An asterial love
by Fiera-Rain-Hathaway
Summary: A Rose and Dimitri love story written in the stars...
1. Introducing the crew

**Hello! :)**

**This is my new story; a story of space voyage by our favorite characters. Don't worry, this is not some extreme Sci-Fi story. There are no technical terms but lots of made up terms and not much science. It's heavily focused on Rose and Dimitri :)  
**

** I hope you like it!  
**

**DISCLAIMER: I own the plot, not the characters! :)**

**Enjoy! :D**

* * *

_Space exploration is a force of nature unto itself that no other force in society can equal_

_~Niel Tyson_

* * *

Ten amazing minutes. I've been out here for ten unbelievable, awesome minutes, lost in this wonderful feeling of exploring the new planet and I still can't believe that we've made it.

There must be a god, after all.

I was in a freaking desert of silver, eerily similar to the surface of the moon. It's strange how basic compositions of chemicals remain the same even across different galaxies.

As I was contemplating the beautiful landscape of the planet _Sietera__,_ a small beep sounded from the shoulder strap of my spacesuit.

"Rose?" A husky voice, laced with a soft accent, echoed in my ear. "Retreat immediately."

I huffed, kicking over a small rock by my feet. As I watched it sail away slowly in the air, I told my mouthpiece: "I thought I was the captain."

The husky voice chuckled, the sound reminding me of flowing chocolate rivers. "Be that as it may, you need to return."

I scowled in the direction of our spaceship. "Screw you, Belikov."

He chuckled in my ear. "Anytime, baby."

I smiled reluctantly. "Alright, I'm heading back now."

As I walked towards the spaceship, I marveled at how grand it looked, standing tall and majestic against the deep violet sky.

_The Klasana_, as the ship was called, was one of its kind. No spacecraft made was ever so huge or so advanced. Equipped with the latest technology developed by mankind, the Klasana was the symbol of hope, an object of fascination, wonder, awe and fear; propelled not only by the gallons of fuel but also by the dreams of the entire race of men.

When I reached the base of the ship, a flight of stairs descended smoothly.

Huffing, I climbed the steps slowly, cursing the strong gravitational pull of the planet.

It was a relief when I finally closed the door shut behind me, locking it and waiting for the pressure to stabilize before I lifted the giant glass bubble of a headgear.

My gloves, however, wouldn't come off so easy. As I tugged and pulled, a laugh sounded close by.

I didn't remove my eyes from the gloves. "Make yourself useful, will you?"

"I would-" said the same voice that had called me back to the ship, the tone ringed in amusement. "-but it's much more fun to see you struggling with it."

I glared at offending pair of warm brown eyes.

"Fine then. I don't want your help," I snapped, pulling away the gloves at all.

"No," he leaned against the archway leading into the ship, looking beyond entertained at my plight. "You don't want my help. But you need it."

I glared at him as he approached me, gracefully bending down to loosen my heavy boots.

I'd never admit it to him but he was right; I did need his help for this. Even after all this time, I couldn't remove the space suit by myself.

As he moved to detach my oxygen cylinder from my suit, I caught a whiff of his aftershave. It was a heavenly scent which I was ashamed to admit that I quite liked.

"Rose Hathaway being quiet," he remarked as he supported me while I extracted my legs from the suit. "That's a first."

"I'm in no mood to deal with you, Dimitri." I stated as I tried to step around him to go into the living room of this ship.

The bane of my existence, Dimitri Belikov- the pilot astronaut of _the __Klasana_smirked as he followed me in.

Despite all the antagonism between us, I had to admit that the man was _hot_, with a capital H. With shoulder length brown hair usually tied back with the stray strands struck neatly behind the ears, and a drool-worthy jawline, he was what the girls back home would call a God. His intense, warm brown eyes boosted the image as did his impressive height. His looks and his chivalrous ways made him a hot favorite among the opposite sex. But that didn't work with me.

He and I didn't really get along, despite the fact that we probably knew each other the longest among everyone in this spaceship. Our mothers had been best friends and they'd always assumed that we would too. We had been, we had been best friends. Dimitri and I had been inseparable when we'd been kids, doing everything together. Then, my dad was transferred out of _Itaria_, our home town. Mom and I went with him. I grew up in _Yahona _and Dimitri grew up in _Itaria_. We stayed in touch for a long time but we drifted apart as we grew. We met again, at the Janana Space Center (J.S.A). I'd been ecstatic over our reunion, especially when I found out that both of us were training to become pilot astronauts.

Then stuff happened and the drift between us turned to intolerance. We argued a lot, we fought a lot but fate stuck us together a lot too. Now we were in an entirely different planet, stuck together again. Thankfully, this ship had other crew members.

"How did it go?" Lissa, my best friend: the physician, asked as I stepped into the living area.

With straight platinum hair and jade colored eyes, Lissa looked like a princess, or at least a barbie doll with her slim figure. Her looks were a sharp contrast to mine. With brown eyes and dark brown hair which almost looked black in dim lightning, I looked like a desert princess. But nothing about my life or my work resembled royalty, much less a princess.

"Oh, I was just out exploring," I answered as I moved to sit beside her on the couch. "I'll collect the soil samples tomorrow. We need to test them asap."

Holding an advance degree in biotechnology before training to become a pilot, testing was fully my domain. Dimitri was the only other person who could assist me, having an advance degree in physics.

"We will," Lissa told me. "There were no problems?"

"Just one," I replied casually as I turned to face Dimitri who had occupied my favorite armchair and was busy turning the pages of one of his old westerns. "Why did you call me back so soon?"

Dimitri looked up from his novel and met my accusing stare with a mischievous look in his eyes and hint of a smile tugging on his lips. "I don't know why you insist on blaming me for everything. I called you back only because Tasha insisted."

"That I did," said Tasha Ozera, the main flight engineer in the crew. At thirty, she was the eldest among us and the most experienced. With her raven colored hair and crystalline blue eyes, Tasha had been quite a heart-breaker at the J.S.A. The long scar that marred her left cheek only heightened her looks. Now, those crystalline blue eyes of hers were focused on me with an apologetic look in them.

"I had to call you back," she told me. "The methane in the atmosphere would've affected you if you'd stayed there longer."

Being a flight engineer, it was her duty to monitor our spacewalks. Since she'd specialized in logistics, she was responsible for all astronomical calculations.

"Thanks," I told Tasha as she settled on the arm of my-Dimitri's-chair.

Did I mention that she has a _huge_ crush on Dimitri? Because she did. It was so huge that it was nearly suffocating at times. Tasha was a reasonable woman, cool and talented but she loses a lot of cool points every time she fawns over him.

Okay. I maybe exaggerating a little bit. But it was so annoying!

"Oh, look. The crew's all here," Christian, Tasha's nephew, said jovially as he appeared behind Tasha. He was also a flight engineer but with a specialization in mechanical engineering. Tasha's raven hair and blue eyes looked good on her nephew too, though I'd never tell him that. Christian was like a brother to me but we've never had an easy relationship. Figures, since he was also Belikov's best friend from high school.

"What's the plan, captain?" Christian asked me, sprawling down on the floor by Lissa's feet.

"The plan-" I said, slightly uncomfortable with my newly acquired title of a commander. "-is to have a nice dinner before getting some rest."

"Nice?" Christian snorted as the crew followed me into the kitchen. "Hardly."

I had to agree with him. As Tasha distributed the beef jerky packets, I tried to remember the taste of pizzas, burgers, brownies...all my favorite food items. To my dismay, I found that I couldn't remember the exact taste. All that was left were my recollections of savoring them.

One of the very few things I hated about being in space was the food. But we did have it better than our predecessors. We had freeze dried drinks and flavored drinks, packaged food items; even personalized menus.

But, it wasn't quite enough for a foodie like me.

"How's your research coming along?" I asked Lissa once we'd all settled around the round metal table.

"Good," Lissa said, nodding. She'd specialized in general astronomy before deciding that healing was her calling. "Tasha and I need a few days to verify the results."

I nodded and looked at Christian.

"The ship's in top shape," he said, knowing what I wanted to ask. "No maintenance problems. This baby is ready for anything."

I rolled my eyes as Lissa stared at Christian from the corner of her eye. Yeah, Tasha's little crush wasn't without company.

"Dimitri?" I looked across the table to where he was sitting, meticulously unwrapping the packet of beef jerky.

"Yes?" he asked, raising his eyes to mine.

"Will you be testing the air molecules?" I asked, trying not to grit my teeth at the sight of Tasha gazing at him, a lovesick look on her face. All this love, or rather, the lust in the air was making me sick. Lissa and Christian making goo-goo eyes at each other was bad enough. I've been putting up with Tasha's outrageous flirtations with Belikov since forever. It was a nauseating experience. I knew one day I'd snap and yell at her...or him. And she didn't deserve that. Why couldn't they just fuck each other already and get it out of their systems? And why in the bloody world was I getting angry over that thought?

"I would've if you'd collected it," Belikov retorted.

"Collect it tomorrow then-" came the voice of another person who got on my nerves. Adrian. The mission specialist, a good friend and a decent guy. But a flirt. A huge flirt.

His looks were easy on the eyes and his charming smile and emerald eyes lured unsuspecting women into his bed. At twenty-eight, he was one year older than Dimitri and Christian. That made him two years older than Lissa and I. "-let the Little Pilot rest. She needs her beauty sleep to maintain those incredible looks"

I was just about to snap at him to not bother me when I noticed a hint of anger in Dimitri's eyes. His face was impassive but his eyes held anger, maybe even a little resentment. _Why?_

Maybe it was the fact that we'd been best friends once or maybe it was that we've known each other for ages; whatever the reason, I could read Dimitri's eyes easily.

They were almost like an open book.

_Almost. _

I could easily understand his emotions but not what caused them.

"Look who woke up from _their_ beauty sleep," Christian mocked.

"I need it," Adrian said as he opened the freezer to remove a packet of frozen biscuits. "You don't know how hard it is to maintain my good looks."

"Oh yes," I said, smiling sarcastically. "How can we forget your strict beauty regime? Moisturizers, foundations, lipsticks..."

Everyone burst out laughing at my comment. Adrian shook his head and sighed in mock sadness but I could see a smile threatening to break out on his face.

"Did I miss a call from earth?" Adrian asked as he chewed on the biscuits noisily.

"Nope." I replied, tossing the wrapper into the garbage disposal system which was actually a recycling system.

"They were supposed to call by now," Lissa said, chewing on her bottom lip in worry. "Taking into account the time difference, they should have contacted us yesterday."

"Relax," I said, placing my hand on hers. "There may have some technical error. They'll contact us soon."

Lissa sighed. "I just want to know what's going on there."

With those words, a heavy gloom seemed to settle over us. Everyone at the table sat silently, our thoughts on our loved ones back on earth. No one said it out loud but all of us had a sneaking suspicion that the situation had only worsened.

I just hope that my friends and family are safe. I knew everyone was hoping the same. We didn't want to entertain the likely possibility that we'd return to earth with no one to greet us.

Our earth has to survive...it must survive.

* * *

**AN: How was it?** **I've done some research on how astronauts live in spacecrafts so that I can get my facts right. But this is still a fictitious story so I'll be inventing a lot of elements, machines and stuff like that. I hope you don't mind! :)**

**I love the idea of Rose and Dimitri always bickering but caring deeply for the other, so that's what I've tried here. Dimitri's personality will essentially be the same as in VA books but with Rose, he's more prone to arguing and teasing. **

**Thank you for reading! Leave me a review and let me know what you thought about this chapter! :)**


	2. Bickering or bantering?

**Hello! :)**

**I'm back with another chapter. It's like a filler chapter but full of romitri. The first half is romitri as children and the second is the present time in planet Sietera. **

**We go back to the space stuff next chapter, for now just some romitri time :)**

**Enjoy! :D**

**DISCLAIMER: The characters belong to Richelle Mead**

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_Get out the picture, blow off the dust_  
_Take off the frame, its starting to rust_  
_Remember the times that we had together_  
_What happened to being best friends forever?_

_\- Unknown_

* * *

_**Past: Eighteen years ago...**_

"One day, I'll be there!" A seven year old Rose said quietly, staring up at the stars. "I'll even build a house there, among the stars. It'll be so cool."

Dimitri smiled, turning his head to look at his best friend. They were lying on their backs in Rose's garden, doing what they did every night: stargazing.

"You...you'll come with me, won't you?" Rose asked Dimitri, her excited smile dimming as she waited for his answer. She didn't want to go if her Mitya didn't.

"Of course," Dimitri answered lightly. "We'll go together. God knows what trouble you'll get into if I'm not there."

Rose elbowed him, grinning as he chuckled.

"Maybe I'll become a commander like Dad," Rose said wistfully. "Then, I'll get to fly a huge spaceship. Lita will be so jealous!"

Rose hated Lita, her classmate who unfortunately had drawn the ire of Rose Hathaway when she claimed that Dimitri was her best friend and not Rose's. It'd all started when Lita begged Dimitri to help her with her science homework. Ever the gentleman, Dimitri had agreed. Lita had hugged Dimitri with joy and invited him to sit with her for lunch. Since Rose had skipped school that day, Dimitri had agreed to sit with her. But actually, Rose had just taken the morning off because her father had come back to town. After spending time with him, she went back to school with her leave letter. What she found on entering the cafeteria was not a pleasant sight for her. Dimitri and Lita were talking and laughing over something. When Dimitri saw Rose, he came straight to her without a backward glance at Lita which the girl hated. Vindictive even at the age of eight, Lita cornered Rose the next day. Halfway through their fight, Dimitri had arrived and pulled Rose away from Lita, scolding the latter for initiating a fight with his best friend.

From that day, Lita and Rose became enemies, both girls trying to outdo the other in every way.

"I don't know about flying a spaceship," Dimitri said thoughtfully, ignoring the mention of Lita. "I'd like to fly a jet through."

"It's all the same," Rose told him. "Baba says it is. He says that only pilots get to fly spaceships."

Dimitri hummed. "Maybe that's what I'll be. A pilot."

Rose grinned. "Imagine...Pilot Rose Hathaway and Pilot Dimitri Belikov. Sounds good."

Dimitri laughed. "Sounds very good."

"We can take a spacecraft and fly away from there," Rose said, remembering her mother and father's discussion which she'd overheard. "Baba says earth will be destroyed in a few years."

"What?" Dimitri asked in shock,

Rose swallowed. "I heard him say so."

"Roza," Dimitri sat up and faced her. "Tell me exactly what he said."

Rose sat up too, the stars forgotten. "He was taking to Mom. He said that our river Naara is about to dry and something about freezing at the equator belt. He said that the earth has reached it's limit. It has some twenty years more at the most."

"Twenty years?" Dimitri whispered. "That's not good."

Rose nodded, looking morose. "Mom mentioned something about blue skies. How can the sky be blue?"

Rose had only ever known a dull gray sky. The blue skies from her parents' childhood had gradually changed to a gray color.

"I don't know," Dimitri admitted. "A blue sky would be nice...but-"

"-weird," Rose completed.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Dimitri stood up.

"Come on," he said, extending a hand to help Rose up from the ground. Had it been anyone else, Rose would've slapped that hand away. But this was her best friend. "Let's not worry about this now. We have English test tomorrow, remember?"

Rose grimaced but followed Dimitri indoors to study for the test.

* * *

**_Present time: In the Klasana_  
**

"You should be in bed," a low and slightly husky voice sounded behind me.

"So should you," I retorted, not looking up from the reports.

I was sitting on the deck of the spacecraft. I loved this place, mainly because the glass walls forming one side of the deck allowed me to watch the outer space. It was dusk here, in Sietera; the only time this planet looked more beautiful than the earth.

The sky was pinkish red with a mellow shine. There were millions of stars already sparkling in the sky. Unlike the earth, the stars weren't tiny white sparkling dots. Here, some stars were so big than they appeared to cover a quarter of the night sky. The beautiful creases, crevices and sparkles were visible on the stars, since they were just a few light years away.

Shooting stars were a common occurrence here, particular at dusk.

Since the night in Sietera is very short, we retire to bed at dusk. But I rarely missed an opportunity to stay up and watch the sky at this time. I loved it. No one knew about this habit of mine..._until now._

I heard his faint footsteps approaching me. Honestly, the man was so quiet that he could even mask the sound of his breathing.

The chair next to mine sunk as he gracefully sat down on it.

"Actually, I'm doing the routine maintenance checkup," he informed me, his tone light and relaxed.

I looked at him from the corner of my eye.

Dimitri Belikov looked as good as ever, even in T-shirt and pajama pants. His hair was free of its tie, framing his face nicely.

_Stop checking him out!_

"Maintenance rounds in your pajamas, Belikov?" I asked, trying to stop a grin from breaking out.

"I hate it when you do that," he said suddenly.

"Do what?" I asked, turning to face him properly.

"Call me by my last name," he said, a frown creasing his forehead. "As if we don't know each other at all."

I kept quiet as I took in his meaning. Yes, it did seem like that. Hard to believe that we'd been best friends years ago.

Looking at him now from the corner of my eye, I suddenly felt a dull ache in my chest.

How had we reached to this stage? How had we drifted apart so much?

But that didn't matter now.

And honestly? Despite how much he infuriates me sometimes, I like arguing with him.

"We do know each other," I said, trying to make a joke. It was an old stand-by when I didn't know how to react to some situation. "Can you imagine not knowing this amazing woman sitting next to you?"

Smirking, Dimitri turned to look at the side opposite to where I was sitting. "What amazing woman? I don't see anyone here."

"_Doorak!_" I said, fixing him with a glare.

Dimitri sighed exasperatedly, just like I knew he would. "I teach you one Russian insult and you never forget it!"

"I know," I said in a mock-horrified voice. "What were you thinking, teaching me that?"

"I really don't know what I was thinking," Dimitri said, leaning back on his chair. "As you didn't swear enough, even at that age."

I shrugged. "I just like to-"

"-express yourself, I know." Dimitri completed, looking defeated.

I laughed at his expression. "Poor you. No one would ever guess that you swear more than me."

"I do not," Dimitri protested, though a small smile tugged on his lips.

"No?" I mocked. "You swear when things don't go your way. You know that, I know that but the world doesn't know that...yet. I don't know what youe mother would do if she ever found out how much you swear."

"You're impossible," Dimitri said, rolling his eyes.

"You say that every other day," I said, rolling my eyes in return.

"I could never say it enough," Dimitri said wisely.

"Right," I said, turning back to close the file. Dusk had evolved into a full fledged night and I had no intention of sticking around and bantering with Dimitri. So far so good but just one little word could easily take us into an argument.

I'm very stubborn and he's just as stubborn as me, if not more. Neither would give in to the other and since the others were asleep, they wouldn't interrupt us and god alone knows how we'd ever end the argument.

"Go ahead with your pajama maintenance party," I said, then rethought it. "That came out wrong."

"When does it ever come out right with you?" He smirked.

Hitting his head with my file, I walked past him and went to the door.

"Good night, Belikov," I called looking back. "I hope you don't get a good night's sleep."

"Hence proved that you indeed are impossible," Dimitri muttered.

Laughing, I left for my room to get some sleep. There's too much to be done tomorrow.

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**AN: Okay, I know this is not good enough. I just typed it right now and posted it. This wasn't even supposed to be chapter 2 but I felt that I needed to put it out there. Next chapter will be better, promise.**

**What did you think of Rose and Dimitri's banter? More of it in the following chapters ;)**

**Also, more of romitri moments when they were kids!**

**But I'm still unsure whether I want to continue this story or not. I got amazing feedback for the first chapter, yes, but this chapter was a bit of a letdown according to me. Tell me what you think. Based on the number of reviews I get, I'll decide to continue or not! :)**

**Thank you! :D**


	3. Disconcerting dream

**Hello! :)**

**A huge thank you to everyone who took time to review. Each and every review means a lot to me :)**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter! :D**

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_I close my eyes, then I drift away, into the magic night I softly say. A silent prayer, like dreamers do, then I fall asleep to dream my dreams of you._

_-__Roy Orbison_

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_**Pilot Astronaut, Mission Commander Rose Hathaway POV****  
**_

"Rose," a soft voice called from behind me. I turned around to see Dimitri leaning against a pillar. The sun was shining behind him, forming a bright halo around his head and illuminating his features in a way that made my breath catch.

"We did it," he said, smiling brilliantly.

"Did what?" I asked absentmindedly, distracted by his smile. I'd rarely seen him smile like that before. It was a smile full of bliss.

"We saved the earth," he said, his smile widening to a grin. He walked over to where I stood and placed his hands on my hips when he reached me.

"We saved the earth?" I asked him, awestruck.

He nodded, his hands pulling me closer to him. I let him pull me close. I liked it, liked being in his arms. "It was mostly you but we helped. Now we don't have anything to worry about."

"Oh?" That was all I could manage. Dimitri ducked his head down to brush a kiss to my forehead, then proceeded to trail soft kisses from my temple to my neck. I was so lost in the sensations his actions evoked, so thrilled by the feel of his lips, so-

"Rose!" A shrill voice sounded in my vicinity which caused everything to disappear. Panicked, I tried to fight the fog clouding my brain. I felt breathless, scared of this thick fog. I felt the ground shake suddenly and then I felt something touch me. Before I could scream, my eyes focused on Lissa's face.

"Wake up, sleepyhead!" She called, pulling what I assumed was a blanket away from me.

I blinked rapidly, focusing on my surroundings. I was in a dull gray room with metallic walls, sleeping in a bed attached to the floor. In my soundproof private cabin in the Klasana. For a moment, I struggled to make sense of everything before it all came back. This was my reality. That moment with Dimitri...that had been a _dream_.

"What time is it?" I asked Lissa, rubbing sleep from my eyes.

"Earth time-1pm," she replied, shooting me a smile that said she was pleased that I woke up without further prompting. "Do I need to remind you where we are?"

"You're so funny," I grumbled, loosening the strap that held me to the bed. In the spacecraft, we could sleep only after binding ourselves to the bed or the chairs. If not, then we'd simply float around because of the micro-gravity. It's worse if our bed isn't attached to the floor. There's a distinct possibility that we'd be floating around the spacecraft with the mattress and blanket for company.

_Earth time, 1 P.M..._

We mentioned time in terms of our earth timings. Our calculations had revealed that the time in planet Sietera was approximately ten years behind the earth time. The duration of the morning, afternoon, evening and night were completely different as well. The day time was too long, spanning over three earth days and the night in _Sietera _is too short since it is the closest planet revolving around the star _Ceres_. Which meant we got less time to sleep, so we had to make do with naps during the day.

Lissa, being a morning person, went away to wake the others. We each had our own private cabins here, in basement of the ship.

Walking over to the hygiene area, I put my dirty clothes in a machine containing _farmana_ microbes. They'd eat the dirt off the clothes, making the clothes clean again. What's truly fascinating about these microbes is that after they clean the dirt, they secrete fumes which are very similar to the smell of detergent. They are ideal for washing clothes here.

Deciding to skip my usual hygiene routine consisting of brushing my teeth and taking a sponge bath, I chewed on a gum which doubled as a toothpaste of sorts and put on a shower cap before stepping into the cylindrical shower stall.

Latching the makeshift door, I switched on the shower. Water droplets fell slowly from the shower head. Thick droplets floated around me, moving down very slowly but not touching the floor due to micro-gravity. When enough droplets covered me from head to toe, I caught some droplets in my hand and rubbed it on my skin.

As I watched the floating water droplets around me, my mind flashed back to that dream...that god awful and damn tempting dream.

Wait, what?

Tempting?

Oh, hell, no!

I didn't want Dimitri like that. I didn't want him in any way.

Stupid brain! Maybe it's turning to mush here, in Sietera.

Shaking my head, I switched on the suction to get rid of the water droplets. This waste water would be cleaned, filtered and reused.

Feeling refreshed, I put on a black tank top and a pair of khaki shorts before bounding upstairs to the kitchen.

I found Tasha and Dimitri in the kitchen, heads together as they discussed something on the report placed in front of them. My steps faltered on seeing them..._him._

After that dream, I felt myself wishing that I didn't have to see him today. It was bad enough that he'd appeared in my dream. The fact that he'd been so close to me, that he'd kissed me..._God!_ What do I do?

How do I act around him when the dream was still so fresh in my mind?

As if it wasn't bad enough, his eyes met mine as soon as I stepped into the kitchen.

"Good morning," he said, smirking slightly. "I cannot believe you got up so soon."

"Shut up," I grumbled as he and Tasha chuckled.

Usually, I'm the last person to wake up. Lissa spends nearly half an hour each day trying to rouse me from sleep. By the time I usually wake up, the others would be halfway through their breakfast.

"Here," Tasha said as she pushed a hot cup of tea towards me. "Drink up."

"Thank you," I said, a little shortly. It'd looked like I was interrupting some sort of moment between them, bonding over a report and all that. It irritated me for whatever reason.

"Did I interrupt something?" I asked, pulling on an innocent look.

"No," Tasha laughed as Dimitri shot me an indecipherable look. "We were just discussing the Sieteran belt formation."

"Oh..." I was disappointed. I didn't know if they were dating or not. I mean, I'd caught Tasha eyeing Dimitri a lot of times. But I hadn't seen any PDA or any confirmation that they were dating. Of course, it could be that they didn't want the rest of us to know. Dimitri is a very private person, after all.

I'd be relieved if they were dating, though. Then I'd be able to banish the dream from my mind.

But a small voice at the back of my mind warned that I would not be happy to see Dimitri and Tasha getting all lovey-dovey.

We were soon joined by Lissa, Christian and Adrian for breakfast which consisted canned soups, mashed potatoes with nuts and essential vitamin tablets. Each food item here had a bar code stating the nutrient content. It was essential that we eat enough to satisfy a certain level of nutrient requirement. Heating was through electro-resistive coil which was a flat plate-like structure.

"What's the agenda for today, captain?" Adrian asked me.

I looked away, hating the circumstances that made me the commander.

"More research," I replied vaguely before straightening up. "We've to get the air samples and test them. Explore this planet a little. Try to contact earth. Clean this ship. There's absolutely no shortage of work."

"We'll get into it after breakfast then," Lissa said gently.

"You've to decide who does what," Christian said, annoying me.

Couldn't they do that by themselves?

But I couldn't blame them, not really. We'd been trained to listen to the commander under any and all circumstances. The commander's the one who takes all decisions, big or small.

"Fine," I said, setting down my uneaten bag of nuts.

I have to be _strong_. If not for me, then for them. I couldn't be a sloppy leader. I owed it to Alberta, the previous captain to be as good a leader as I can be. And right now, I had to delegate tasks.

"Adrian collect the air samples," I ordered. "Lissa, could you do the cleaning? Christian can try to contact earth. Tasha and Belikov can explore the planet."

I'd assigned the work based on sound reasoning: Adrian was a mission specialist so he'd have no problem collecting the samples. Only Dimitri, Adrian and I could operate the sample collection equipment properly. Christian was a mechanical engineer, good with machines. He would be successful in establishing contact with the earth station.

Lissa didn't have any particular work so she could do the cleaning. It's very important to keep our spacecraft clean since the chances of us falling sick due to infections were high. We have to clean it daily. It'd been Tasha's turn yesterday so Lissa could so it today.

Lastly, I wanted to send Dimitri and Tasha to explore the caves for two reasons: First, I didn't want to anywhere near Dimitri today, at least till the dream fades away. Second, I really needed someone to explore the caves. They could do it.

Dimitri's eyes narrowed as he heard my words. I knew why. Despite of our constant bickering, we've been working closely for years. Beside the fact that both of us were pilot astronauts, mine and his specialization overlapped, making us ideal partners in research, testing and exploration. Now I was sending him off with Tasha with whom he didn't share any common branch of study. He knew something was up, _dammit!_ He knew me too well.

"What will you be doing, Rose?" Tasha asked me.

"I've got to analyze the soil samples," I replied, rising from my chair. "Be back within an hour, everyone. Christian will be monitoring your movements. Alert the ship in case of emergencies."

With that I strode out of the kitchen, heading for the lab. As I opened the door to the lab, I felt the familiar feeling of being weightless for a moment before I adjusted myself. This spacecraft had a lower gravity than the earth which made it possible for us to just float around. If you happen to lose your balance while walking, you'll be floating in air.

It was fun, I guess. It sure had been a hell of a lot fun when Christian had tripped and floated for an hour, in an inverted position. We'd been in hysterics that day. It'd been an all round hilarious day, without any stress that we've begun to feel recently.

I'd been in the research lab for barely a few minutes when the intercom in the lab crackled.

"Rose!" Christian called through the intercom. "Come to the Control room immediately."

Sighing, I put away the samples and walked to the Control room, flinging open the heavy doors when I reached it.

"Hello, Rose!" a metallic voice called cheerfully.

"Hi, Mia!" I replied, walking over to Christian.

Mia was the name we'd given to the artificial intelligence software installed in the main room. For all intents and purposes, Mia was like a friend, a very useful friend. She, yes I said she, is an expert in reasoning, planning, processing with abundant knowledge and information about anything and everything. Crazily, she was also programmed to be bold and sarcastic.

As I walked over to Christian, I noticed that he was pressing some buttons frantically.

"Connection established, Christina!" Mia said, "What exactly are you doing, playing around with my buttons?"

"Mia!" Christian said exasperatedly. "It's Christian. Not Christina."

"Don't mind him, Mia," I said, poking my tongue out at Christian who glared at me. "Why did you call me, Christina? And what connection is established, Mia?"

"Connection with the earth station," Mia replied in a sing-song voice.

"What?" I asked, looking at Christian for explanation.

"One minute," Christian murmured, then pressed another button. "Aha!"

The large screen in front of him lit up. A face appeared on the screen. The face of the the mission head, Dr. Dragomir.

"Hello, Rose." Dr. Dragomir smiled when he saw me.

"Hi!" I said enthusiastically. It'd been a while since we'd last heard from earth. Lissa had been fretting over it since days.

"How are things in Sietera?" he asked.

"Very good, sir." I answered. "We're hoping to locate a trace of _viela_ here. There are positive indications to it's presence."

"Good, good." Dr. Dragomir said absentmindedly. "It means you're close."

"How are things there, sir?" Christian asked.

The mission head grimaced for a second before he answered. "Not bad. At least, it hasn't worsened. It certainly hasn't improved. But that doesn't mean anything. You have time to find _viela. _To ensure that humanity survives."

Christian and I exchanged glances as we looked at the brooding professor in front of us. He was Lissa's grandfather, a pioneer of inter-galactic research and an experienced astronaut. He was great but I hated it when he talked like this. As though we're the only hope for the survival of human race.

"There's someone who'd like to meet you, Rose," Dr. Dragomir said suddenly, smiling at me and stepping away from the screen.

"Baba!" I gasped, as my father appeared on the screen. He was dressed as flamboyantly as ever, in a dark suit with a bright screen scarf. His gold earring caught the light as he neared the screen.

I sensed Christian retreating from the room,giving me some privacy with my father.

"How are you, little girl?" Abe Mazur's typical knowing glance and smirk was reassuring. It meant that the world, as I knew it, still endured.

"I'm fine," I said, grinning at him. Now that he was close, I could see a dark shadow in his eyes that hinted at the horrors he'd witnessed. Horrors I didn't know about, horrors happening on earth at this very moment.

"How's mom?"

"Oh, she's fine," he said brusquely. "It'll take a lot more to end your parents, Rose."

"Can you not?" I groaned, not wanting to think about a world without them. Which I might be forced to, if the situation continues.

Abe chuckled, making me laugh as well. "How are you, really?" he asked, a steely glint in his eyes.

I swallowed. "Okay, I guess. Losing Alberta so soon is a huge loss. I'm the captain now, you know. Makes me wonder how you ever did it."

Abe had commandeered three space voyages. Granted, none of them had been as long as this one, nor as difficult but it'd been a huge achievement back in the day.

"Instinct, Rose." Abe said seriously. "Always trust your instinct."

I nodded, taking it in. I'll be needing all the advice I could get.

"Looks like our time's up," Abe said, looking at something I couldn't see. "Christian's parents are here. Take care, Rose. You'll do great, I know it. You're my little girl, after all."

I rolled my eyes, smiling slightly. "Take care, old man. Take care of mom. Stay safe."

"You too," he winked as he disappeared from the screen.

As I left the room, I thought about all the things Abe had said. I had to believe in myself. Trust myself. Only then will I be able to complete this mission successfully, helping humanity as much as possible.

* * *

**AN: How was it? Good? Bad? Leave me a review and let me know what you liked in this chapter:)  
**

**Looking forward to hearing from you all! Thank you :)**


	4. A breakthrough

**Hello! :)**

**I'm so sorry for the late update. I'm facing a tough couple of weeks in college since it's the semester ending time. Assignments, projects, reports, labs, tests and exams...wheew! :'(**

**Anyway, forget my sob story. On with the chapter! I hope you all like this one ;)**

* * *

_ Friends listen to what you say. Best friends listen to what you don't say.  
_

_ ~Unknown_

* * *

**_RPOV_**

"You've been avoiding me all day," Dimitri's accusatory tone made me glance up at him from where I'd been studying the soil sample under the microscope.

_So, he'd noticed, after all._

"Don't be ridiculous," I scoffed, acting nonchalant as I turned back to my work. No way was I going to tell him why exactly I'd been avoiding him!

"_You are,_" Dimitri stated firmly as he came to stand beside me.

He knew me too well,_ damn it!_ He'd always been able to tell when I was lying.

He continued, still using that firm tone of his. "I'd like to know why."

Why? _Why?_

Oh, you see, I had a stupid dream about you. About us. And it's making me highly uncomfortable!

Is uncomfortable the right word?

Stupid, blasted dream! It's making me think of you in an entirely different light.

And I don't like it. Not one bit.

But I can't tell you all this, can I?

My cheeks burned as the dream played itself before my eyes. Struggling to remain passive, I huffed before fixing him with a glare. "Maybe all I'm trying to do is avoid a fight."

To my surprise, Dimitri chuckled, the rice tone entrancing me.

Shaking my head, I retorted with mock sympathy, "You've finally gone over the edge, my friend."

"You'll be the first one going off the deep end, Rose." He said, handing me the petri dish that I'd been looking for.

Our strong friendship when we'd been kids and years of working together had attuned us to each other. I didn't have to say what I was looking for; he just knew it.

Right now, I was not happy with our weird bond or whatever it was. I didn't want to be reminded of it, not after that dream.

I snatched the petri dish from his hands, dumping my sample in it. Now, I had to add a few drops of _wranon _to discern its properties. Before I could look for the bottle, Dimitri placed it in front of me.

I huffed again which made Dimitri laugh.

"I hate you," I grumbled.

"Of course you do," Dimitri murmured, rolling his eyes.

"I do too," I told him stubbornly. "Now, make yourself useful and help me with this."

"I'm not a bio-technologist," Dimitri remarked dryly.

"No?" I asked in mock surprise. " I never knew that. Now shut up and do as I say."

"Yes, ma'am," Dimitri said, bowing to me in jest. I couldn't help but laugh, hitting him with the wash cloth. He shook his head as he fetched the things I asked.

We continued to work for sometime in silence.

"How did your exploration go?" I asked him curiously as we watched soil turn to deep green, indicating the presence of mineral _tanium_.

"We didn't find anything new," Dimitri said as I noted down the observation. "By the way, what did Dr. Dragomir say? I didn't get a chance to speak to him earlier."

"He didn't say anything new," I replied, suppressing a sigh. "Situation on earth is the same."

Dimitri's heavy sigh reflected my feelings.

"Dimka!" Tasha's voice drifted over to us as she herself appeared at the door a moment later. A wave of irritation rose inside me at the sight of her bright face and that spark in her crystalline eyes that appeared whenever Dimitri was near.

_Control, Rose!_ She hasn't done anything wrong!

"What are you guys working on?" she asked, approaching us.

"Just analyzing the soil," I said, shrugging and turning back to my work. I didn't want Dimitri to know how much her presence irritated me.

"Sounds fun," she said enthusiastically, coming over to stand beside Dimitri. "Can I join?"

_What was fun in analyzing soil? _

She must be here for Dimitri, I realized._ As always._

Once again, the dream flashed through my mind. It was easy to picture Tasha in my place in that dream...easy to imagine them together.

_But why was it bothering me?_

Whatever the reason, it was better to picture her with Dimitri than remember my dream.

Should I push them together? If they weren't already together, that is.

"Oh no," Dimitri sighed in exasperation as he glanced at me. "I know that look."

"What look?" I asked, surprised. He didn't know what I was thinking, right?

"The look that says you've got an evil idea." Dimitri stated.

"You'd know all about evil ideas, don't you?" I said, scowling at him.

Dimitri shrugged. "I know a fair few. Nothing compared to you, of course."

"Be afraid, Belikov," I said menacingly, smiling sweetly. "Be very afraid."

"I'm sure I'll not be able to sleep tonight," he said mockingly but his eyes were intense, full of something I didn't know.

I blinked, caught off guard by that look.

There was something there, something that made me abandon my plan to push him with Tasha._ But what if they're already together?_

"Stop it, you two." Tasha's voice cut through the air, breaking my eye contact with Dimitri. "You're as bad as Tom and Jerry."

"We're worse," Dimitri joked, turning to face her.

"Oh, come on," Tasha said, a hint of flirtatiousness in her voice as she rested her hand on Dimitri's arm. "You don't really hate each other."

"Says who?" I asked tightly, averting my eyes. I couldn't look at them standing together like that, couldn't look at that slender hand on Dimitri's muscular arm.

Dimitri shook his head in exasperation at my response. "I'll be in the living area." he said, taking off his coat.

"Now I know which area I should avoid," I retorted without thinking.

"So you are avoiding me!" Dimitri said triumphantly.

"Why wouldn't I?" I asked coolly but inside I was berating myself for the slip up. "As I said, I'm just avoiding a fight."

Dimitri snorted, called a good bye to Tasha and turned to leave. On the way out, he stopped beside me and leaned down to whisper in my ear, "I'll find out the reason, Hathaway. You know I will."

With that, he disappeared from the lab, leaving me to deal with a weird kind of shiver tricking down my spine at his words.

I groaned as his parting words replayed in my mind. Dimitri was as stubborn as I was. He would try his best to find out why I was avoiding him. Why, oh why did I say it out loud?

"I really can't understand what's with you two," Tasha told me suddenly.

"We hate each other, that's all." I said, moodily stabbing the sample with a knife. "Speaking of, what's with you two?" I asked, gesturing to her with the knife.

She blushed, almost confirming my suspicions. "I don't know what you mean. But what does violet color mean?"

"Violet?" I asked, moving around her to look at the sample I'd mixed with _Canther _liquid. "Oh god! It's violet!"

"Rose?" Tasha called.

I couldn't answer her because I was too busy reeling from the discovery. Sietera's soil color changing to violet when mixed with Canther...it indicates the presence of _viela_!

"Tasha, tell everyone to come to the meeting room immediately," I ordered, jotting down the observation quickly.

As Tasha left to call the others, I turned the pages of the log book, going through everything we'd discovered about this planet. I'd highlighted the places where there was a high probability of finding _viela_. Only a few of those places had been explored by us. But now that I knew for sure that _viela _was present here, we'd have to step up our efforts and locate the other _viela _sources.

Gripping my log book tightly, I went up to the meeting room where the others were waiting for me. _Show time, baby!_

"Sit down," I told them, gesturing to the seats as I proceeded to the front of the room, turning to face the crew. I kept my face impassive as I waited for them to settle down.

"I'm not good with this speech stuff so I'll keep it short," I started, remembering Alberta's speeches. Ignoring the pang I left whenever I thought about Alberta, I looked at my team sitting before me.

Taking a deep breath, I said, "The Sieteran soil indicates the presence of _viela_."

Lissa gasped, Tasha covered her mouth with her palm in shock, Adrian's eyes widened impossibly and Christian and Dimitri exchanged a stunned look.

"You found viela?" Tasha asked, shock still etched on her face.

"Yes," I nodded, smiling in relief. "We're very, very lucky."

"We are," Lissa said softly. "This is just our second stop, the very first planet we've explored. And we've already found viela."

"We still have a lot of work to do," I reminded them. "But this is a very good sign. We've just found traces of it. We've got to explore all the possible sources in this planet, try to see if we can a substantial amount of it."

"That's the hard part, isn't it?" Christian asked warily.

I nodded reluctantly.

"Let's not downplay this discovery," Adrian smiled optimistically. "The fact that we've found one of the rarest elements in space in our very first planet is reason enough to celebrate."

"Celebrate later," Dimitri told him sternly. "When we've found enough of viela, you can celebrate as much as you want. For now, we've got work to do."

"He's right," I acknowledged, seeing that Adrian was about to argue. "But that's the last time I'm saying it, Belikov."

The last part was in reply to Dimitri's widening smirk. The others laughed at my words, the tension broken fully.

"But before we get down to work-" I moved to switch on the projector screen and connected my laptop to the apparatus. "-let's all watch this video. It's very important for you all must to know the possible sources of _viela _in this planet. Only then I can dispatch teams to find it."

When the video started playing, I moved to sit in the chair beside Adrian to watch it.

The title, _Occurence of viela in Sietera_ flashed on the screen.

The screen displayed various photos of Sietera as the voice-over explained the history of the planet:

_The planet Sietera was first discovered through the ketio telescope by Mikas Siet in the year 1989. This planet revolves around the star Ceres and is part of the Andromeda galaxy. Sietera is approximately five times the size of the earth. The exact distance to the planet, or even to the Andromeda galaxy has not yet been determined. But in February 2008, a wormhole appeared in our solar system, between Earth and Venus. _

'Thank god for it," Christian remarked.

_Examination indicated that the wormhole may be a permanent fixture in our solar system. The Galia 2, a spacecraft carrying two astronauts: Harman Parker and Mikas Siet was the first to travel through the wormhole. According to the data sent by these two astronauts, the wormhole led directly to the Ceres system in the galaxy Andromeda. _

_The planet Sietera is the closest planet to the star Ceres. The time dimensions are unknown. _

"We know it now," Adrian murmured.

_Sietera has no satellites. It has five outer rings so close that they looks like one. The rings contain albatinum gas as a major component. Mikas Siet reported that the atmosphere consists of Methane, nitrogen and hydrogen with unconfirmed traces of oxygen. _

"He didn't find chlorine?" Adrian asked in disbelief. I shushed him quickly.

_The surface of the planet is made of unknown minerals. Siet returned to the earth after a period of fifteen years and tested the Sieteran soil. He didn't recognize any of the minerals. But he was convinced that the life-giving element viela was present on the Sietera. He guessed that viela could be present in these locations: surface soil, in the elements making up the outer rings, in the albatinum pools which occur on the surface or in the unexplored caves of Sietera. However, his experiments did not yield any proof to support his theory._

"His theory is proved now," Adrian said, smirking.

I shot him a glare before standing up and switching off the projector. "Okay. We have three places to explore. The outer rings, the albatinum pools and the caves."

"We did the caves yesterday," Tasha pointed out.

"Yes but that was an overview," I replied. "We need to get the soil and air samples of the caves. As well as samples of the material making up the cave walls."

Tasha nodded. "Dimitri and I can do that."

"It makes more sense for me to take the outer rings," Dimitri said before I could say anything. But I had to agree with him. To test the outer rings, we have to take one of our space probes and travel outside the Sieteran atmosphere. The only pilots here were the both of us. Since I'd be busy with the research, I couldn't concentrate on driving the probe. It had to be him.

"Lissa and I can take the albatinum pools," Christian volunteered.

I smiled at his eagerness to get some alone time with Lissa. "In that case, Tasha will have to go with Adrian to the caves. Since you've already visited it once Tasha, you can guide him there."

Both Adrian and Tasha looked a little disappointed, Tasha more than Adrian.

I narrowed my eyes at them, daring them to disagree. Only Adrian, Dimitri and I could operate the sample collection equipment. The albainum pools required a different collection method, which Lissa knew. I had the most experience with space-walking so I'd have to go to the outer rings with Dimitri as the pilot. That left Adrian and Tasha together,

The pairings I'd decided on were the sensible and they knew it. I wasn't going to compromise this mission just to keep them happy.

Tasha bit her bottom lip and glanced at Dimitri.

I rolled my eyes at her.

"You can do whatever you want with him later, Tasha. This is more important," I said sharply.

Tasha blushed a furious shade of red but I didn't regret my words. They must learn what's important and what's not.

"Do I get the same privilege as Tasha?" Adrian asked me cheekily.

"To do whatever you want with Belikov?" I asked, laughing. "Sure!"

Lissa and Christian started laughing hysterically while Dimitri had a disgusted expression on his face. Despite being flustered, Tasha too was laughing.

"That's not what I meant!" Adrian protested.

I sobered up, "I know what you meant but that will never happen."

"We'll see, Rose, we'll see." Adrian said lightly, moving out of the room.

The others followed him out. Only Dimitri remained.

"Shall we?" he asked, gesturing to the door leading to one of the space probes attached to our spaceship.

A ride with Dimitri to the outer rings. _What have I gotten myself into?_

* * *

**AN: So, how's the chapter? The first part was pure romitri where we saw how Rose was affected by her dream. She's starting to see Dimitri a little differently now. ****Then we read about viela, the life giving element. I'm sure you all have got some idea about how Rose and the gang are planning to save the earth ;)**

**Oh, don't forget the part where Rose finally snaps at Tasha! Don't you all love a headstrong and outspoken leader that Rose is? :D**

**Leave me a _review_ and let me know what you thought about this chapter! :)  
**

**Small confession? Writing this story is a lot harder than writing 'Embers in the snow', trust me. So, if you liked this, do let me know so that I'm assured that all my effort isn't wasted :P**


	5. Snippet of the past

**Hello! :)**

**I thought I'd take longer but no. Study holidays are here but I'm comfortably ignoring the 'study' part for now so here's your update :D**

**I'm not sure when the next update will be. :(  
**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter! It's a a collection of romitri friendship moments from their childhood :)**

* * *

A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.

-Unknown

* * *

"I win!" A pretty six year old girl with dark brown hair shouted triumphantly, a large grin on her face as she looked at her 'enemy' Eddie Castile.

Eddie let out a sign from where he'd been forced to the ground by Rose. "You always win, Rose! It isn't fair!"

"It is too," the little girl replied forcefully, glaring at her friend. "I will-"

"Rose," a soft voice called her from somewhere behind the large maple tree under the shade of which Rose, Eddie and the rest of their friends were playing.

As soon as she heard the voice, Rose grinned happily; completely forgetting Eddie and the rest of her friends. She jumped over a fallen branch and went behind the maple tree in search of her best friend, Dimitri Belikov.

Rose and Dimitri had known each other since the time Rose entered the world. One year old Dimitri had been fascinated by baby Rose. Their mothers, Janine and Olena were best friends and conveniently, neighbors as well. From their nappy days, Rose and Dimitri were always together, even if Rose was a year younger than Dimitri. Janine had enrolled Rose in a higher grade in school, making Rose and Dimitri classmates as well. Their classmates often joked that Rose and Dimitri couldn't live without the other, for rarely were they found without the other.

When Rose rounded the maple tree, she found Dimitri in a crouched position in front of a large bush. As she approached, the seven year old boy looked up at his best friend and gestured for her to remain quiet.

Curious, Rose approached him quietly.

Dimitri's hands were cupped over the bush. Slowly, he brought his cupped hands up and held it in front of Rose.

"What's that, Mitya?" Rose asked softly, pushing aside the strands of her hair that that escaped her ponytail.

Dimitri smiled at her before relaxing his fingers a little. A magnificent butterfly was confined within the cages of his fingers. Even when he loosened his fingers, the butterfly remained perched on his index finger.

Rose looked at it in wonder, fascinated by the multitude of colors on its wings.

"You told me you wanted a butterfly," Dimitri reminded her.

It was true; Rose had said that. She'd been intrigued by it ever since she saw it on TV.

"How did you catch it?" Rose asked Dimitri in a hushed voice, her eyes fixed on the butterfly.

"It was easy," Dimitri replied, smiling at her excited face.

Cautiously, Rose lifted a finger to touch the butterfly. The moment her finger made contact, the butterfly took off into the sky.

"Aw," Rose sighed sadly.

"It's okay," Dimitri consoled her. "I can catch you another-"

His voice trailed off when Rose hugged him suddenly. "You are the bestest, Mitya!"

Not bothering to correct her grammar, Dimitri just grinned as he hugged his best friend back.

* * *

A best friend is someone who when you show up at their door with a dead body they say nothing, grab a shovel and follow you.

\- Unknown

* * *

"Mitya?" Eight year old Rose whispered as she peered into Dimitri's room. It was almost nightfall so she knew he'd be in his room.

He was sitting at his desk, doing his homework quietly. At the sound of her voice, he looked up and smiled.

"Will you come with me?" Rose asked quietly, looking up at him hopefully.

"Of course," he replied, pushing his chair away and standing up. "What is it?"

Rose grinned and pulled him out of the door, out of his house and into hers.

"Roza?" Dimitri asked curiously as they climbed the stairs.

Rose shushed him quickly and took him inside her room, locking the door behind them.

"What are you doing?" Dimitri asked when Rose went to open her window.

"I don't want Janine to find out," Rose said as she peered at something out of the window.

"Don't call her by her name," Dimitri chastised her.

She muttered a "whatever" under her breath as she carefully stood up on the window ledge.

"Rose!" Dimitri hissed, running over to the window. "What are you doing?"

Rose didn't answer him. She slid a leg out and heaved herself up over the ledge.

"Are you coming?" she asked Dimitri innocently, walking further along the ledge.

"Be careful," Dimitri warned, his heart beating quickly as he took in her precarious position.

"I shan't be if you don't join me!" Rose retorted cheekily.

Sighing in exasperation, Dimitri too heaved himself up on to the ledge. He had to make sure that she didn't fall down and break her neck.

"Come with me," Rose said, beckoning him forward.

"Watch where you're walking," Dimitri warned.

Rose ignored him, instead jumped nimbly onto the wide ledge next to the one they were in.

Once there, she rummaged inside the box that was sitting on that ledge.

Jumping over, Dimitri tried to see what she was looking for.

"Gotcha!" Rose murmured, extracting a blanket and spreading it on the ledge. She then lay down on her back. The ledge was wide enough to make sure she stayed safe.

"Mitya!" Rose called impatiently, patting the space next to her.

"One day, you'll get both of us killed, Roza." Dimitri told her affectionately, lying down next to her.

"That's want I want, _Dimulya_," Rose teased, using the nickname Olena had for Dimitri.

Dimitri elbowed her gently as they both settled down to gaze at the vast expanse of stars blanketing the night sky.

* * *

Everyone hears what you say. Friends listen to what you say. Best friends listen to what you don't say.

\- Unknown

* * *

"Cover me, comrade!" Ten year old Rose yelled as she ran across the room, shooting the opposing team with laser beams from her gun.

Dimitri remained behind the makeshift wall, shooting anyone who dared to aim their guns at his best friend.

Rose and Dimitri were best in this game. They worked together superbly. They knew each others' moves, they knew what the other was thinking and planning. They had each others' backs. Always.

"Rose, get back here!" Dimitri shouted as his sharp eyes took in a bunch of the opposing team members approaching Rose cautiously, trying to surround her.

"No!" Rose shouted gleefully. "I'm not gonna hide. Come on, cowards!"

Dimitri sighed at her reckless antics. She had always been this way. She was a born spit fire. But it was not a problem. Dimitri had enough caution for both of them. He was logical while she was reckless. Her hot temper matched his calmness. They balanced each other well.

Rose was now almost fully surrounded by the others. Instructing his team members to take out the remaining opposition, he ran over to Rose, fighting back to back with her in practiced moves.

"Team badass at your service," Rose stated grandly, locking eyes with the leader of the other team.

"We'll take you down, Hathaway," the leader, a thirteen year old boy called Malcolm growled at Rose.

"Not on my watch," Dimitri stated, quoting a dialogue from his and Rose's favorite TV show.

"Run away when you still can," Rose taunted the other team.

"No chance," Malcolm shouted before turning to his team to say something.

"Now, Rose!" Dimitri shouted, firing laser beams rapidly at the other team. Rose had taken hold of one more gun so now she was holding a gun in each hand, her shots easily bursting the small circle attached to the opposing team's chests.

Before long, the other team was defeated.

"Yay!" cheered Rose as she hugged Dimitri. "We did it, comrade!"

He laughed, keeping her locked in the hug and twirling her around. At eleven, he was easily the tallest and the strongest boy around, a fact that Rose took advantage of by demanding piggy-back rides whenever she felt like it.

"But _Roza_-" he said quietly when he set her down on her feet.

"Hm?" she asked, looking up at him happily.

"-No running out like that next time," he said, attempting a stern tone.

She winked and kissed his cheek. "You're such a worrywart, Mitya!"

He sighed and murmured, "What am I going to do with you?"

* * *

_Friendship is like standing on wet cement. The longer you stay, the harder it's to leave, and you can never go without leaving your footprints behind. _

_\- __Unknown_

* * *

"Rose," a thirteen year old Dimitri whispered his best friend's name softly, clutching her tighter to himself. He didn't want to let go, ever.

"I d-don't wanna go!" Rose said, her words barely distinguishable. She was sobbing on Dimitri's shoulder, desperate to do anything to not leave her best friend behind.

"I-I told mum so, so many times, comrade," Rose said, hiccuping. "She won't agree. Even dad won't. They won't let me stay here."

Her father, Ibrahim Mazur, pilot astronaut working in J.S.A had decided to move out of their home town Itaria. The city of Yahona was the headquarters of J.S.A. He wanted his family to shift there with him. Trouble was, Rose didn't want to go Yahona. How could she leave behind her friends, her best friend, her comrade?

But Abe and Janine hadn't listened to her; neither realizing how much Rose and Dimitri cared for each other. They were not just best friends, they were partners, they were comrades always having each others' backs. Always.

"_Roza,_ it'll be okay," Dimitri tried to soothe a distraught Rose, concealing his pain. He wanted her to be happy.

"How can you say that?" Rose yelled, her eyes swollen red due to crying.

"Rose, we have to make the best of this situation," Dimitri told her softly. Even at thirteen years of age, Dimitri was a wise and smart cookie. Rose hated the occasional life lessons he sprouted.

But now, she was desperately looking for some assurance that this wouldn't affect their friendship.

"We will always be best friends, _Roza_," Dimitri stated with certainty, knowing what was going through her mind. "Never doubt that."

Rose smiled through her tears. "Promise?"

"Promise," he swore, pulling her into another hug.

"Rose!" Janine called, approaching the pair. "It's time to go."

Rose scowled at Janine who'd turned to say goodbye to Olena.

"It's time," Dimitri said quietly, hoping against hope that his voice didn't betray the pain he was feeling. He intended to keep his promise to Rose; they'd always be best friends, no matter what. But it was so hard to see her move away from him, so hard to imagine his life without her. He didn't quite know what he'd do once she left.

"Rose, come!" Janine beckoned Rose towards her car. Abe was already in Yahona so Rose and Janine would be journeying together to meet him there.

Rose shook her head, fresh tears streaming down her cheeks as she pressed her face to Dimitri's chest, hugging him tight.

Dimitri sighed sadly. "_Roza.._"

Rose shook her head rapidly, clutching him tighter. "No! I'm not going. Don't make me!"

"Rose, honestly!" Janine exclaimed, looking angry. She worked in the Police department and had little to no patience while dealing with her daughter. It had been Abe who'd raised Rose since Janine was focused solely on her work. If Abe were here, he'd have soothed Rose and pacified her, maybe even resorting to lies to make sure that Rose would be calm. He was sly whereas Janine was direct...and brutal.

Dimitri preferred Abe to Janine any day.

Janine strode over to the best friends and forcibly pulled Rose away from Dimitri.

"Enough of this, Rose." Janine scolded her daughter, dragging her away from Dimitri. Rose wasn't complying though. She was fighting to escape her mother's death grip, her right arm outstretched towards Dimitri.

Dimitri moved forward, his hand catching hold of Rose's outstretched one. "It'll be okay, _Roza_. It will be okay."

"Dimka," his mother murmured as she held her son back from following Janine and Rose. "Let go, sweetheart. Let go."

_No,_ he wanted to shout at the world. _No, he wouldn't let go. He couldn't..._

Janine yanked away her daughter in one powerful pull and Rose's hand left his; his fingers clutching at the empty air. _She was gone..._

* * *

**AN: How's the chapter? I kinda love this more than the other chapters, actually. If you liked it, please do let me know! :) **

**Waiting for your reviews :D**


	6. Some alone time - not really undesirable

**Thank you so much for the reviews! I couldn't reply to individual reviews like I always do. But I'd just like to say thanks to my most recent reviewer, Neha. Thanks for the concern, girl :)**

**I'm fine but semester finals are coming up so I couldn't update. **

**This chapter is for you. Enjoy :D**

* * *

**Previously: **

_"Shall we?" he asked, gesturing to the door leading to one of the space probes attached to our spaceship._

_A ride with Dimitri to the outer rings. What have I gotten myself into?_

* * *

_Things are never quite as scary when you've got your best friend _

_ -Bill Watterson_

* * *

**Pilot astronaut, Mission commander Rose Hathaway POV**

Dimitri opened the door to the probe and gestured for me to wait while he increased the air pressure and switched on the oxygen supply inside the shuttle. Once he gave me an all clear, I stepped inside and shut the door, locking it securely.

It was a small probe, meant for carrying one or two people. Being in close quarters with Dimitri was definitely not what I wanted. But it was the most logical pairing.

Dimitri sat down in front of the control board and checked the engine and other essentials. Meanwhile, I checked our spacesuits and verified that we did have all necessary equipment.

"All set?" Dimitri asked me, clicking some buttons and glancing at the screens in front of him.

It was evening time in Sietera and the light of the star Ceres was shining dully. Ceres was smaller than our sun and burned less brightly. But it did rise and set as the sun did on earth. Ceres would disappear from the sky in about two hours.

"Yes," I replied, sitting down beside him and buckling up.

"Alright," he said, beginning the undocking procedure. Those long, graceful fingers of his flew over the buttons, pressing the necessary ones quickly. He was fully absorbed in the task, his face a mask of concentration.

He pressed the undock button and quickly fastened his seat belt as the probe began to shake slightly, slowly detaching from the Klasana.

The round screen in front of Dimitri showed our probe detaching smoothly from the ship.

Dimitri exhaled before pulling out the steering panels.

Gripping the two handles of the steering panel, Dimitri directed the shuttle to rise up, beginning the journey to the outer rings of Sietera. We'd take nearly an hour to reach there, half an hour for collecting the samples and an hour to return to our spaceship.

I didn't like staring outside through the round window at my side. It was very dull outside, nothing like an evening on earth. I'd discovered that staring at my surroundings often evoked homesickness.

Sighing, I turned to Dimitri to find him already staring at me.

"Don't crash the probe," I joked, averting my eyes from his warm ones. I'd only just started noticing the weird energy and electricity that seemed to pop up whenever our eyes met.

Dimitri smiled slightly, "Don't tempt me."

I rolled my eyes. "Of all the people, I always get stuck with you."

Dimitri chuckled, clicking on the auto-pilot button as the path was predetermined. He'd only need to steer to avoid obstacles. "Blame our branches of study."

I smirked, "I blame the universe. It seems to have a twisted sense of humor. If only Tasha was a bio-technologist and a pilot. Then I could've sent you two together."

It was Dimitri's turn to roll his eyes, "You'd have had to spend time with Adrian then."

I grimaced, "I can't decide who's worse, you or him."

Dimitri shook his head in exasperation. "That joke back there was uncalled for."

I giggled, "Brace yourself, Belikov. Both Adrian and Tasha have a permission to do _whatever_ they want with you. To you."

Dimitri looked highly uncomfortable with the double meaning in my words.

"Don't be such a prude," I scolded, punching his arm lightly.

Dimitri rolled his eyes again.

"And besides, who knows what nasty stuff goes on behind the closed doors of your room?" I teased, wanting him to either confirm or deny it. Then, I'd know how far he was in with Tasha.

Dimitri smiled a little, as if he guessed the motive behind the question. He couldn't have guessed, right?

"You're one to talk," Dimitri said, without answering my indirect question. "We all know what Adrian's intentions are towards you."

I shrugged. "He can keep on dreaming. Besides, they are no worse than Tasha's."

"You know," Dimitri said, steering the shuttle to the right to avoid a small space rock. "You've mentioned Tasha the most since the beginning of this journey. Is there something you want to tell me?"

I gasped, "You just made a sexual joke, comrade! I think I'm going to faint."

He didn't laugh like I'd expected him to. Instead, his eyes turned soft, his lips curving upward in a beautiful smile.

I looked at him in confusion before it clicked. I'd called him _comrade_!

It was a childhood nickname, one I'd decided was fit for him when we'd played war games with the other kids. Dimitri and I would always be in the same team, hence making him my comrade, always.

I hadn't called him that since a very long time. I don't even know why it slipped out now.

"Adrian and Christian have corrupted you," I declared, concealing the fact that I'd realized my slip up. "You've even started to swear out loud now."

Dimitri smiled, "They've corrupted me? No one swears as much as you do."

"I like to express myself," I said defensively.

"Of course," he grinned. "You need swear words to express yourself. What does that say about you, Rose?"

I threw him a defiant glance, "It says that I couldn't care less about what people think."

"That's true enough," Dimitri acknowledged.

"Dimitri Belikov agrees with me," I said, faking shock. "What a miracle!"

"Your flair for drama is as pronounced as ever," Dimitri teased.

"Right," I nodded. "So is your tendency to irritate me."

"That goes both ways," he pointed out.

I scowled halfheartedly.

In the silence that followed, I tried to organize my thoughts. Not only did I have to check up on the others' progress, I also have to conduct the research. And ask Dimitri to help me. And deal with this weird tension that always arose when Dimitri and I were alone.

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Dimitri murmured after some time. "But you are a great commander, Rose."

_How on earth did he know that I'd been thinking about the exact same thing? _

But I wasn't surprised, not really.

This had happened before, many times in fact. It'd been common when we were children; we could easily guess what the other was thinking. Even when we were training together at the J.S.A and were always bickering, we could guess when something was bothering the other.

After all, despite all the antagonism, we did know each other very well.

"Thanks, I guess." I smiled, leaning back on my seat.

We fell into a comfortable silence till we reached the outer atmosphere of Sietera. Once Dimitri directed our probe towards the rings, I got up to put on the spacesuit. I'd be going out to collect the samples.

"Are you sure about this?" Dimitri asked, setting up auto-pilot again and rising to help me with the suit. "We can use the lonwan machine to collect the gas sample."

"Maybe," I replied, words muffled as Dimitri slid the upper part of the spacesuit over my head and zipped me up. "But you know it's got some retraction problems. No, I'll have to do this."

Dimitri nodded, fixing my oxygen tank and fiddling with the headgear. I fixed the collector equipment to my belt along with the clamper of thick tether cord to secure me to the probe.

After helping me put on the headgear, Dimitri sat back on his seat and slid on a pair of headphones.

"Can you hear me?" He spoke into the mike of his headphones.

His voice reached me through the embedded earpiece in my headgear.

"Loud and clear," I answered, the mike in my headgear transmitting my answer to his headphones. "O2 and CO2 levels are normal. Everything is fine."

Dimitri nodded. "Good luck."

With that, I slowly approached the door of the now stationary probe and opened the door.

As always, I experienced mild vertigo at the sight of my inky black surroundings that seemed to stretch and stretch into infinity. The darkness was speckled with flickering stars, thousands and thousands of them. It was all unfamiliar but at the same time, it was very familiar.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly put one foot out of the probe to feel the ladder built into the wall of the probe. One foot firm on the ladder, I lowered myself so that I was positioned on the ladder. Then, I started climbing up the ladder to the roof of the probe. Once there, I focused on the rings of Sietera.

Taking another deep breath, I slowly stepped onto the nothingness. Just as my feet left the roof, I felt weightless.

My heart was hammering away in my chest as I descended into the dark and weightless surroundings.

Carefully, I directed myself to float in the direction of the rings. The tether chord extended with me, anchoring me to the probe.

As I floated, I closed my eyes briefly and took in everything. I was floating in space, somewhere in the Andromeda galaxy, thousands of light years away from my home. If not for the wormhole, mankind would never have known about this place, let alone reach it. Now here we are, a team of young astronauts desperately searching for the substance _viela _which had the power to right the horrors happening on earth. To save our families, to save the mankind from destruction.

For _viela_ was a life giving element. It had the ability to destroy the _rista_, the substance steadily killing the remaining population on earth.

Mankind has been on the verge of extinction for several years now, what with nuclear wars, famine, drought and other disasters. When the nature's assault on mankind seemed to have halted, the _rista_ appeared. It had the power to cause unspeakable horrors on the human body, on the flora and fauna of the earth. Even now, it was spreading at a rapid rate.

"Prepare to collect the samples," Dimitri's honey-like voice sounded in my ear, rousing me from my musings.

I pulled at the flask and a device which looked like pair of tongs attached to my belt. I was close to the rings now. But I couldn't touch them. Albatinum would burn me, even through the thick insulated material of my space suit.

From far, the rings look beautiful, shining emerald. As you move closer, you can see that the emerald which looks solid from a distance is actually a shimmery emerald gas, forming wide rings which overlapped one another. Each ring was about several kilometers wide.

I approached the edge of one such rings and fixed the flask to the tongs like device. Then, I pushed up a tiny switch on the device. Immediately, the handle of the device lengthened until it touched the ring.

Slowly, I inclined the flask slightly so that the gases making up the rings would fill it. Now was the tricky part. When I decided that enough of gas mixture had entered the flask, I pressed the button halfway, stopping when the flask was at arm's length from me. The material of the flask repelled the gases so I could touch its outer surface. I steadied my shaking hands and fixed the cover of the flask so that the gases wouldn't escape. Satisfied, I pressed the button fully and attached both the flask and the device to my belt.

"I've got the sample," I told Dimitri in a low voice.

"Good," he replied. "Automated pull or manual?"

"Automated," I replied. "But slowly."

In reply, I felt the tether chord attached to my belt jerk and then slowly the chord retracted, pulling me to the probe. Keeping a hand over the flask, I gripped the chord tightly, irrationally scared that the clasp of the chord on my belt would break.

When I was close enough, I gripped the rungs of the ladder and hauled myself up to the door.

"I'm here," I told Dimitri.

"Okay," he replied. "Steady now."

The door of the probe swung open and I pulled on it until it was wide enough for me to enter, all the while making sure that my feet were anchored to the ladder. I managed to weasel in after quite a struggle. Dimitri couldn't come to the door without wearing a suit himself.

"Finally," I gasped, shutting the door firmly behind me.

I was starting to feel light headed but I chalked it off to my limited oxygen supply.

I'd be fine in a minute.

Dimitri gave me a small smile as I handed over the flask to him. He moved to place it in a secure holder while I pulled off my headgear and gulped the oxygen in the probe. A little bit of that light headed feeling went away but not completely. I really need to sit down and relax.

"Next time-" Dimitri said as he walked over to help me out of the spacesuit, "-I'm going out to collect samples."

I laughed breathlessly, happy to have collected it. "As you wish."

I placed my hand on his shoulder for support as he unlaced my boots.

That was a mistake.

I could clearly feel his shoulder muscles beneath my hand, feel the movement of those firm muscles as he helped me out of the boots. Quickly I withdrew my hand, causing Dimitri to glance at me. I didn't meet his gaze, instead choosing to remove my belt. When I was rid of the spacesuit, I collapsed on my seat and Dimitri directed the probe back to _Sietera._

I saw his lips move, his mouth forming words which I couldn't hear. A haze settled around me. I felt my surroundings spinning rapidly. A breathless feeling enveloped me. I couldn't breathe...couldn't see anything aside from a bleak whiteness. _Oh god! _

The last thing I saw before the darkness enveloped me was Dimitri: my best friend.

* * *

**AN: Rose collapsed! Is it simple exhaustion or something more? Leave me a review and let me know :)  
**

**Many of you wondered why Rose and Dimitri were almost 'enemies' now. I promise I'll clarify it soon. Plus, they aren't enemies, not even close. They don't hate each other, despite what Rose says. They just have a difficult relationship right now. It'll change but not too soon since I love writing their bickering and bantering :D**

**Did anyone notice the last words? 'My best friend' not 'my former best friend'. There's a hint there ;)  
**


	7. Can frienship ever fade?

**Hello! Thanks for the reviews, follows and favourites :)**

**No, my exams are not done but I'd written this chapter a while ago so I'm posting it :D**

**Also, hearty greeting to everyone on the occasion of International Yoga Day! As an Indian, it's great to see the world accepting Yoga and celebrating it!  
**

**Enjoy this chapter :)**

* * *

_Because once upon a time, we were best friends. And, yes, there's been a lot of bad stuff in between. But none of that matters right now, okay? You need me, I'm there. Any time, any place, anywhere _

_\- -Dawsons' Creek _

* * *

"Come on, grandpa!" A nine year old Rose shouted to her friend Eddie. "Throw the ball already."

"We should take a break, Rose." Eddie said, not showing any signs of loosening his grip on the ball. "You've been playing for two hours now."

"Who cares?" Rose said lightly, rolling her eyes. "I don't need rest. Just throw the ball."

"Okay," Eddie sighed, relenting. Rose would get her way, as always. "Catch!"

He threw the ball towards Rose.

Laughing gleefully, Rose caught the ball and swung it back towards Eddie in no time.

Grinning at her enthusiasm, Eddie threw the ball back to her. His aim was slightly off so the ball went a little sideways and not straight to Rose.

Undeterred, Rose ran to catch the ball. She made it in time, skidding across the grassy ground to catch the ball.

The ball was in her grip.

But she...she didn't get up from the ground.

"Rose?" Eddie called, wondering if it was some trick Rose was playing on him. Rose was well known for her mischievousness, after all.

But Rose didn't seem to be playing a prank now. She really had collapsed.

Panicking, Eddie shouted for his classmates and gym instructor.

Soon, the teacher had picked up Rose's unconscious body and was making his way to the infirmary.

Eddie felt tears pricking his eyes. Shrugging off his best friend Mason, Eddie walked morosely back to the school building.

He should have stopped her. He shouldn't have given in to her demand. He knew she was tired, she'd been playing all morning.

Through his cloud of guilt, Eddie remembered Rose's best friend, Dimitri. Eddie knew the teacher would inform Rose's parents but who'd inform Dimitri? He knew just how close those two were. Eddie had to tell him the news. At least apologize for what he'd done.

Yes, he had to find Dimitri.

Making up his mind, Eddie ran through the corridors and reached their classroom. He spotted Dimitri in the back of the class, chatting with some boys.

"Dimitri," Eddie called, panting. His ribs ached and he felt as his lungs were on fire.

"Eddie?" Dimitri frowned in confusion, taking in his state. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Eddie gripped Dimitri's arm. "Rose...s-she..."

"Rose?" Dimitri asked, alarmed. "What happened to Rose?"

"She..she is in the infirmary," Eddie gasped. "Collapsed when we were playing."

Dimitri's eyes widened in shock before he was gone. He'd left the room in the blink of an eye. And Eddie didn't even get to tell him how sorry he was. He just hoped that Rose would be alright. She was just tired, right?

* * *

"Wrong," the Doctor told Rose's parents when Janine said something about Rose being tired.

They were in one the most reputed hospitals in the city. When Abe had heard the news about Rose, he'd demanded that Rose be shifted from the school's infirmary to the City Hospital. He only wanted the best for his daughter.

"What do you mean wrong?" Janine asked the doctor angrily. Abe didn't know if her anger was over her daughter's condition or because the doctor had said she was wrong.

Janine Hathaway didn't like being told that she was wrong.

The Doctor sighed. "Come with me, please." he said, gesturing to his cabin.

Once Abe and Janine were seated opposite him, Dr. Crawford opened a file and took out some images.

"See this?" he asked, gesturing to the pictures in his hands. "This is the result of your daughter's tests."

"And?" Abe asked impatiently. He didn't like being short with his friend but he was very concerned about Rose.

"The results are normal," Dr. Crawford said, placing the images inside the file and taking out a paper. "Normally, we don't perform all these tests when a patient had fainted. But I've seen Rose since she was young. She is a strong child. I couldn't accept that she'd fainted due to exhaustion."

Abe nodded. Dr. Crawford, his friend, was their family doctor. He'd overseen Rose's birth and her checkups from the time she was born.

"So, I conducted these tests," Dr. Crawford continued. "Rosemarie tested positive for one of these."

"What?" Janine asked, looking a little scared.

"Abe..Janine," Dr Crawford looked at them for a moment before he said, "Rose tested positive for Cotopa"

"What's that?" Abe asked, trying to calm his nerves.

"It's a very very rare disease," Dr. Crawford said. "It's classified as a Mitochondrial disease. You see, there are units called Mitochondria in our body cells. They are responsible for producing energy from the food we eat. In Rose's case, they aren't working properly leading to problems like fatigue, muscle pain, heart problems and so many more."

"But Rose hasn't felt any of them," Abe protested.

"No," Dr. Crawford agreed. "Until this afternoon, she didn't experience anything because Cotopa is very fickle. Sometimes, there are no visible symptoms at all. Sometime, there are a few. Rose exhibited one when she collapsed. If I were to guess, I'd say she experienced severe muscle pain due to which she lost consciousness."

"Is it treatable?" Janine asked, her voice calm and collected.

"Yes," assured them. "Rose's is just at the beginning stage. It can be cured. But if it hadn't been detected..." He sighed. "The very few recorded cases have always ended tragically as they were diagnosed very late. Till the very end, the patients won't understand that they have this disease since there are no external symptoms. But Rose can be treated and she'll make a full recovery."

"Does it involve an operation?" Abe asked.

"No," Dr. Crawford replied. "No operation. Just a small exposure to healing radiation. Do you want me to schedule it for today evening?"

"Yes, please." Abe said, rising up to shake his hand. "Thank you, doctor."

"Before you go..." Dr. Crawford hesitated. "Even though I'm very sure Rose will make a full recovery, I need to brief you on all possibilities."

"Meaning?" Janine asked, a little harshly.

Dr. Crawford sighed. "In some cases, Cotopa disappears for a while before reappearing after several years. Sometimes, it looks like its fully cured but it may not be. If it comes back at the later stage in Rose's life, it will be more severe than what she's experiencing now."

"Is there no way to make sure it doesn't come back?" Abe asked anxiously.

Dr. Crawford shook his head. "No. Cotopa is like Cancer in terms of being unpredictable. You cannot predict when it'll come back, if it ever does. You cannot even predict how long the patients will live once they reach a certain stage. Just as abruptly as it appears, it disappears too in a few cases. One of my patients had experienced severe Cotopa for a few days before the disease vanished suddenly. All I'm trying to tell you is this: Cotopa may reappear at a later stage in Rose's life. At that time, it may be too late for diagnosis and her life may be in danger or she'll get cured by herself. You cannot say what will happen."

Abe and Janine sat in silence for a while, taking in everything. They didn't like it, didn't like the thought of Rose having such a dangerous and unpredictable disease. But as Dr. Crawford said, she'd be alright now. They hoped with all their heart that the deadly disease would never reappear in Rose's life.

* * *

**In the Klasana(present time)**

**Mission Commander Rose Hathaway  
**

First thing I was aware of was warmth.

Warmth on my hand.

Blinking, I tried to make sense of what was happening.

There seemed to be a small weight on my hand, one that was the source of all this warmth.

As soon as I opened my eyes, the pressure on my hand disappeared, immediately filling me with a sense of loss.

"Finally. Sleepy head wakes up." A honey-like voice drifted to my ears.

"Have I died and gone to hell?" I shot back, blinking to adjust to the light in the room. "Because there's no way you'd be in heaven with me."

Dimitri came into my field of view. He had his typical half smile on his face but I could detect a hint of worry in my eyes. He smirked but his heart wasn't into it. "In hell with you? What have I done to deserve that torture?"

I was about to reply but stopped when I noticed the rawness and itching in my throat.

"Water?" I asked him.

He immediately fetched me a water bag, making a small hole in it to insert a straw which he held to my lips.

I sipped greedily, thankful to feel the rawness receding.

"Thank you," I said, leaning back on the bed.

Dimitri just nodded in reply, sitting on a chair beside my bed. He must have been sitting here since he brought me to Klasana.

Wait...

Was he holding my hand?

Was that the warmth I felt?

"Don't think so much, Rose." He teased lightly. "You don't want to faint again, do you?"

"You're so funny," I grumbled. The worry in his eyes grew...worry for me. For me.

"Rose," he leaned forward suddenly, using his no-nonsense voice. "What was that?"

"What was what?"

"Fainting," he replied, looking put out. "You're taking your vitamin tablets, aren't you?"

"Of course I am. You know that none of us can afford to skip it."

He looked at me for a few seconds, trying to figure out if I was telling the truth.

Which I was.

I have no idea why I fainted like that.

"Are you sure it's not-" his voice trailed off as his gaze became distant.

"Not what?" I asked curiously.

"Are you sure it's not...Cotopa?" he asked hesitantly.

"No!" I almost shouted. "I'm cured, remember?"

"Janine said it might come back," Dimitri reminded me, looking tense.

"No, no!" I shook my head. "The first time I collapsed, I had muscle pain, comrade. I didn't feel anything, back at the probe."

"Cotopa doesn't always come with muscle pain," he countered.

"What are you, an expert?"

"No," he replied. "But I did read up on it when you were diagnosed."

I smiled, unable to help myself. "You were always such a worrywart."

"That's called concern, _Roza_." He replied smartly. "Being the best friend..."

He trailed off, scratching the back of his neck.

I felt my heart constrict with pain when he said that. _Best friend_. Yes, we'd been best friends. We'd thought we'd be best friends forever.

Now, I'm not his best friend. No, that place is taken by Ivan.

Ivan and Dimitri, best friends for life. Not Rose and Dimitri.

Ivan and Dimitri.

For a moment, a savage pleasure filled me as I thought of Ivan not being selected for this mission. There was no Ivan here.

Just as quickly as the jealousy came regret and sadness when I thought of what Dimitri must have felt while leaving behind Ivan. He was back on earth while Dimitri was here.

He was back on earth without any guarantee of living to see the next day.

No one on earth had that guarantee anymore.

How could I be so selfish as to be happy at the thought of Ivan being back on earth?

How would I have felt if it had been Lissa?

Scarily in tune with my thoughts, Dimitri asked, "Does Lissa know about Cotopa?"

I averted my eyes. "Where are the others anyway? Are they back yet?"

"Yes, they're back. Lissa was right here with you until Christian insisted that she get some rest," he replied before fixing me with a glare. "But don't avoid the question. Does Lissa know?"

"What do you think?" I retorted, hoping that he'd think that I tell Lissa everything. I hated myself because it wasn't the truth.

"I think you didn't tell her," he stated, leaning back on his seat.

"I tell her everything!" I replied defensively.

"Lie," he stated calmly. "Aren't you both like sisters? I thought there would be no secrets between you two."

I scowled at him. "It's not easy, okay? I can't tell Lissa everything. She...she's fragile. I need to shield her from any and all unpleasantness."

"She's stronger that you give her credit for," Dimitri noted. "But that aside, you can't keep this from her. Being your best friend, doesn't she have the right to know?"

"I can't...I won't tell her about this," I said stubbornly.

"But-"

"-Lissa is not like you, Dimitri!" I said impatiently, frustrated by his reluctance to let go of the topic. "I could tell you anything and you wouldn't even flinch but her? She cannot handle it!"

"So, that's the only reason?" Dimitri asked, looking into my eyes. "You don't tell her everything because she can't handle it."

"Yes!" I shouted.

"I don't think so," he stated, again with that maddening self-assurance. "I think that you just don't want to confide in anyone. That's how you've always been."

"That's not true," I countered. "I used to tell you everything."

His features softened slightly at my words.

"And you can tell me anything now,_ Roza_," he said softly, leaning forward to look me in the eye. "You know you can trust me. No matter what."

With that, he got up and strode out of the room.

* * *

**AN: Many of you had various theories on why Rose mentioned that 'best friend' with regard to Dimitri.**

**No, Rose and Dimitri are not pretending to hate each other. They genuinely love to bicker and yes, there is distance between them. They aren't secretly chummy!**

**What I wanted to highlight was that, a friendship like Rose and Dimitri's cannot be broken. Chapter 5 did show the extent of their friendship during their childhood. Whatever happens between such friends, whatever fight, misunderstanding, mistrust...nothing can break that bond of friendship. It's always there, never ending and never fading, even if you choose to ignore it. That's what Rose is doing now. The reasons for their fallout, for this distance between them will be revealed later ;)**

**So, what did you think about this chapter? Rose has a disease...and no, I cannot guarantee a happy ending! You'll know I'm not averse to tragedy if you've read my one-shot 'Eternal Love'. God, I'm feeling soo mean now! :P**

**Last thing. I updated this story and not 'Embers in the snow' because, in that, the next two chapters are closely linked. It wouldn't be fair to post one chapter and leave you all hanging until my exams are over for the next chapter :)**

**Thanks for reading! Do leave a review if you liked it :D**


	8. Staggering realizations

**Hello! :)**

**I'm sorry for the delay in updating. Thanks for being patient with me :D**

**Enjoy the chapter! I think you'll like this one ;)**

* * *

_When I was down, you picked me up. When I was laughing, you laughed with me. When I was going through hard times, you stood by me._

_When I needed you, you were already there._

-Unknown

* * *

_**A snippet of the past:**_

"Come on, Rose!" A ten year old Dimitri Belikov held a spoon full of soup in front of his best friend Rose Hathaway's mouth.

The said girl scowled petulantly, turning her face away from him.

"Stop being so stubborn, _Roza!_" Dimitri chastised.

Rose pushed a lock of her dark, wavy hair out of her face. "I'm not being stubborn. You are."

Dimitri sighed. "Please drink it, Rose. Just one bowl."

"No!" Rose glared at him defiantly. "I'm not hungry."

"You may not think you're hungry but you actually are," Dimitri said sagely.

"Well, I'm not."

"Fine then," Dimitri set the bowl beside Rose's bed. "I will not force you. Happy?"

Rose grinned from her perch on the bed. She'd been ordered to take rest and that's what Janine had been enforcing since they got back from hospital yesterday.

Currently, they were in Dimitri's house. Janine had agreed to send Rose over for the night in hopes that Dimitri would convince her to eat something. So far he hadn't succeeded. But he was persistent, especially where his Roza was concerned.

Rose suddenly scooted over, making place for Dimitri on the bed. "Come here, comrade."

He climbed up beside her carefully, sitting at a distance from her.

Rose giggled. "Mitya, I don't have cooties!"

Dimitri smiled reluctantly and shuffled closer. He was scared of hurting her.

"Now, tell me," Rose fixed Dimitri with a look that he often used on her; the look which demanded the truth. "Did you eat anything yet?"

Dimitri looked down, embarrassed.

Rose narrowed her eyes. "You didn't, did you?"

"I will," Dimitri assured her.

"Pass me the bowl," Rose demanded.

Dimitri passed her the bowl, half-understanding her intentions. That's why he wasn't surprised when Rose held a spoon full of soup to his mouth.

Slowly, Dimitri took a sip causing Rose to grin in triumph.

"Your turn," he said quickly, snatching the spoon from her hand and scooping up more soup.

Rose huffed but let Dimitri feed her the soup. This game went on until the bowl emptied. The two best friends shared soup, laughing and talking late into the night; all thoughts of the strange disease Rose had been diagnosed with was totally out of their minds.

It was only when Dimitri took it upon himself to read more about the disease that the dread set in. But the worry wasn't for long. Everyone was ecstatic at the news that Rose had been cured of the disease. There was a small warning that it might come back but it was ignored since the disease was a very rare one. But the thought that Rose might one day be susceptible to the disease again always lingered on Dimitri's mind...

* * *

_**Present time in the Klasana**_

**Mission Commander, Pilot Astronaut Rose Hathaway POV**

Sighing, I leaned against the counter in my lab, totally exhausted. I hadn't even done a lot of work today. Nothing more than usual, at least. Then, why was I feeling so...out of breath?

Was Dimitri right? Maybe I do have Cotopa...

For a second, pure fear gripped me. I didn't want my life to end this way. When I imagined my death, I always visualized a heroic end. Stupid, but true. I wanted to die for something, for someone. Maybe giving up my oxygen supply to help my friends, maybe dying when I was out in a spacewalk. Not from a disease...

Of course, it was entirely possible that the spacewalk yesterday had drained me and has depleted my energy.

It happens...

But rarely.

What I'm feeling now is more of an indication of Cotopa.

With no way to determine whether I have the disease or not, I was left with only one way. All I could do now was go on with this mission, go on with my work so that I'm able to fulfill my dream of saving the earth or at least contribute significantly to it.

Yes, that was the best way forward.

But there was one problem...

"Rose! What are you doing here? You're supposed to be resting!"

Dimitri.

He wouldn't let this go.

He'd never allow me to work as I did before.

I had to convince him that I was fine.

Plastering on a fake smile, I turned to him. "Will you ever stop fretting?"

Dimitri leaned against the door to the lab, eyeing me darkly. "Why is it so difficult to listen to me once?"

"I do listen," I insisted. "I listen when you have something sensible to say. Which is next to never."

He didn't look amused. If anything, his face hardened even more. "I'm not joking, Rose."

"Nor am I," I replied sarcastically. "I have no time for jokes, Dimitri. Lots to do."

He clenched his jaw and stalked towards me. "Let others do the work for once. Just go and rest until the afternoon in the very least."

I shook my head stubbornly. "I'm not going. I don't need rest."

Dimitri gripped my shoulder, looking like he wanted to shake me. "Yes, you do."

"No," I denied, getting angry at him. Why couldn't he just let it go?

"I don't have Cotopa! Stop acting like I do."

Dimitri's eyes reflecting his growing frustration as he pushed me back against the wall. "You don't know that for sure. Even if it's not Cotopa, you can't deny that you need rest. You fainted yesterday, Rose. That's not normal."

I struggled to loosen his grip on me. Being pressed to the wall with his body against mine was making me feel heady. "It was just once," I said, my voice growing softer as I tried to convince him."The spacewalk drained me out. So what? That happens to people."

"And people take rest when that happens," Dimitri retorted. "Which you're clearly not doing."

It was becoming harder to control my anger. I had to escape before I could say anything I'd regret or didn't really mean. "Just leave me alone, Dimitri!"

Dimitri punched the wall next to my head, shocking me. "Dimitri!"

"No, Rose," he whispered. "Don't say anything."

He turned his head to look at me. We were so close, so very close. I could feel the hard planes of his body against mine; it was making me breathless. His hands were on either side of me as he fought to regain control. He was angry, very angry. Why was my refusal to rest making him so angry and frustrated?

"_Roza,_" he said softly, his dark eyes trapping me. "What if it is Cotopa?"

I took a deep breath, slumping against the wall. "I don't know, okay? I'm trying to figure it out. But Dimitri, I can't just sit still and wait for it to kill me."

Dimitri flinched, averting his eyes from mine.

Gently, I rested my hand against his cheek, fingers turning his head back towards me.

He raised his eyes to meet mine.

So many emotions were swirling in the depths of the dark brown abyss, so many emotions that made no sense to me. But I could clearly make out his worry for me.

"It'll be okay," I wanted to reassure him, wipe that worry from his eyes. At the same time, I wanted reassurance myself.

He huffed a little, breath fresh on my face. "You've always been the optimist."

I smiled, my thumb subconsciously stroking his cheek. He leaned his head into my palm, smiling in a way that made me feel warm and safe.

"It will be okay," he echoed, his voice like velvet.

My eyes slid shut halfway, feeling a sort of calm I'd never felt before. My mind was at ease, no worries and no tension of any sort. Dimitri's arms were like cages, trapping me between him and the wall. But I didn't mind. Hell, I liked it. Liked the feeling of being so close to him. Liked feeling his body against mine. Liked this heady and electric feeling coursing in my veins at his proximity. Was I-?

"Little pilot! Are you there?" Adrian's voice drifted into the lab, uncharacteristically loud.

His sharp voice broke the moment, making both Dimitri and I jump in shock. We'd been lost to the world till now...

Adrian himself appeared in the doorway a second later, grinning like a madman. Looking at him now made me irrationally angry. What would have happened if he'd waited for one minute before making his grand appearance? I'll never know, thanks to the idiot.

Dimitri, who'd moved away from me at the sound of Adrian's voice, looked calm and collected as opposed to my increasing frustration.

Wasn't he least bit affected?

"What are you both doing?" Adrian asked cheerfully as he walked over to us.

"Talking," Dimitri replied gruffly despite his calm exterior. But then again, Dimitri had never liked Adrian...

"You mean, fighting?" Adrian asked rhetorically.

I glared at Adrian as Dimitri rolled his eyes, "Whatever you want to think."

With that, Dimitri marched out of the door without even a backward glance. I stared at the doorway in shock. Why he leave so abruptly? He didn't even look at me once after that moment against the wall! Did it mean nothing to him? Why am I so bothered by all this?

As Adrian talked about some theory about viela, my mind kept replaying that moment.

As I analyzed it from all angles, replaying all the words and reliving all our actions, I finally understood something.

I finally sorted out my feelings.

Now, I knew..

I finally knew that I was crushing on Dimitri.

On Dimitri Belikov, my childhood best friend and current what? Enemy?

I was crushing on someone I fought with endlessly..

Someone who's always been there for me despite everything.

Someone I was convinced that I couldn't stand...

_I'm surely going to hell! _

* * *

**AN: Looks like Rose had one hell of a realization! :D Do you think Rose is open to the idea of a relationship with Dimitri? Leave me a review and let me know what you think ;)**

**I'm sorry for any and all mistakes in this chapter. I'm too tired to edit it today. My entire day has been spent in front of the laptop, writing stories. In addition to this, I've been writing EITS and two new VA fics - a one shot and a story plus my own story. Trust me, I'm spent :'(**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please do review if you liked it :D**


	9. Friendship rights and duties

**Hello! :)  
**

**Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favorites! I'm glad many of you, despite not going for space stuff typically, have given this story a chance. I hope you continue to enjoy it. :D  
**

** This chapter is a little short but I didn't want to add anything more that could potentially disturb the balance. This is a glimpse of Rose and Dimitri's past that's related to Rose's self-revelation in the previous chapter. Enjoy :)**

* * *

_Yes, she's my best friend and yes, sometimes we have problems. Sometimes we laugh, sometimes we cry. I know everything about her. She knows everything about me. And even though we have defects, we love each other..._

_We always will._

* * *

"Dimitri..." An eleven year old, strawberry blond girl cooed as she latched onto Dimitri's arm.

The said boy looked highly uncomfortable. "Hi, Lita."

Knowing how much Rose and Lita detested each other, Dimitri wanted nothing more than to walk away from the girl his best friend hated. But it was a difficult to do so when Lita clung on to his arm with no intention of letting go anytime soon.

"Why don't you sit with me during lunch today?" Lita asked, batting her eyelashes.

The question was one Dimitri was used to.

"I can't, Lita." He said gently. He may not like her much but he still had to be polite.

"Why?" Lita scowled. "Because of Rose?"

"She's my best friend." Dimitri stated, not liking the tone she used when she said Rose's name.

"Yes, yes." Lita rolled her blue eyes. "Best friends for life and all that. But Dimitri-she has to see that you have a life away from her."

"I don't." Dimitri said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"You should!" Lita exclaimed, not giving up. "What happens when you get a girlfriend, huh? Will you ignore her because of Rose?"

Dimitri's eyes widened. "Girlfriend?"

Lita turned coy all of a sudden. She giggled and swatted his arm. "Of course, silly. When you're older, you'll need a girlfriend."

Dimitri hastened his footsteps. "I really need to go, Lita."

"Wait," Lita tugged him back to face her.

Shyly, she lifted her eyes to his impatient ones. "Would you like me to be your girlfriend?"

"Wh-what?" Dimitri stammered, blushing and hoping he'd heard her wrong.

"I like you, Dimitri." Lita stated boldly.

"I..uh." Dimitri hoped the earth would open up and swallow him. "Um..thank you?"

"You're supposed to say it back, silly!" Lita giggled again.

The sound grated on Dimitri's nerves. "Lita...all this-it's for when you're older."

"It doesn't matter," Lita shrugged. "I know I want you as my boyfriend."

Dimitri's swallowed.

"You can be my prince charming," Lita went on dreamily. "Then we can marry and have loads of kids!"

"That's enough." A low voice sounded from behind Dimitri. On hearing the voice he'd recognize anywhere, Dimitri let out a relieved sigh.

It was his best friend.

"Get lost, Lita!" Rose ordered, glaring at her.

"You always spoil everything," Lita huffed, scowling at Rose. "Dimitri was just about to tell me-"

"I don't care," Rose said furiously. "Go before I introduce your face to my fist."

Huffing, Lita turned and walked away. She wouldn't admit it but she scared of Rose. She always had been.

Rose glared at her retreating figure, not once looking at Dimitri. When Lita disappeared around the corridor, Rose turned and marched away silently.

Startled, Dimitri called to her. "Rose! Wait up."

"I don't want to talk." Rose said, still not looking at him. Her tone was..off.

"But, Rose!" Dimitri protested as he followed her out of the school and into the garden nearby.

"Leave me alone, Dimitri!"

Dimitri took a step back, shocked by her tone. She called him 'Dimitri'...not 'comrade' or 'Mitya' as she always did. Not even 'Dimulya' which she always used to tease him.

"Are you angry with me?" Dimitri asked as he pulled her to a stop.

Rose still refused to look at Dimitri and resorted to glaring off at a distance.

"You are, aren't you?" Dimitri continued. "Why?"

No answer.

"Did-did you hear everything?" Dimitri asked hesitantly.

No answer again.

"_Roza..._" Dimitri tried.

"No!" Rose growled. "Don't do that. Can't have your girlfriend accusing me taking you away from her, can we?"

Dimitri frowned, not liking the accusation. "She's not my girlfriend."

"Are you sure?" Rose asked, faking shock. "She seemed to think she is."

"Why are you acting like this?" Dimitri asked in exasperation. "If you heard everything, then you should know I didn't say anything to her."

"You would have," Rose said petulantly. "If I'd not interrupted-"

"That's not true." Dimitri cut her off then slowly stepped towards her. When she didn't lash out, Dimitri gently turned her face towards him.

Rose resisted, turning her face away but Dimitri didn't give up.

When her beautiful brown eyes met his, finally, Dimitri was shocked to find tears.

He'd make his Roza cry.

He felt physically sick. Logically, he knew he hadn't done anything but the situation that hurt her had involved him too.

"Not your fault." Rose mumbled, knowing what he was thinking.

He shook his head. "I'm sorry-"

"Don't be," Rose said, sighing. "I'm sorry, Mitya. It wasn't your fault."

"But-"

"I shouldn't have gotten angry," Rose continued, looking at him apologetically. "But it..it's just that Lita gets on my nerves."

Dimitri knew she was lying. "That's not the reason. Tell me the truth, _Roza_."

She sighed. "It's stupid."

"When has that stopped you?" Dimitri teased.

Rose pushed him away halfheartedly.

"Tell me," Dimitri ordered, guiding her to a bench and hopping on next to her.

"Will-will you really leave me when you get a girlfriend?" Rose asked sadly.

The uncertainty in her voice tugged at Dimitri's heart. He was appalled that she even asked him that question.

"Never!" he promised, making Rose smile at the sincerity in his voice.

But what neither of them told the other was that they hated to imagine the day the other got someone else to spend time with.

"Why did you think I'll agree to what Lita said?" Dimitri asked, uncomfortable to repeat Lita's words.

Rose shrugged. "Why not? So many boys from our class like her. Even Eddie thinks she's cute."

"You're cute," he blurted out, blushing a little.

But Rose didn't notice. "I suppose I am. But you would say that. You're my best friend. You're supposed to say that."

Dimitri laughed. "So best friends should tell each other they're cute even if they are not?"

Rose grinned and nodded. "Also, best friends shouldn't talk to their best friends' enemies."

She said the last sentence with a slight glare.

"She talked to me," Dimitri pointed out. "I barely said anything."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'll have to teach her a lesson."

Dimitri groaned. "You've already pulled more than enough pranks this year. No more."

Rose pouted, looking at Dimitri pleadingly. "Come on, comrade. One more won't hurt. Please!"

"No." Dimitri said firmly, crossing his arms.

Rose scowled.

Dimitri grinned. "You're face will stay like that if you don't fix it."

Rose huffed but stopped scowling. "Okay. No more pranks. But if I catch her with you again..."

Rose left her threat unfinished, looking into Dimitri's eyes to make sure he understood.

"You're soo scary," Dimitri said, rolling his eyes.

Rose giggled and Dimitri couldn't help compare her sweet giggling to Lita's irritating one.

As if knowing what he was thinking, Rose shot him a wide grin and hugged him. "You're the best."

Dimitri smiled, pulling her closer. He was glad she wasn't angry with him. He hated the rare occasions when she was annoyed and ignored him.

"When we're older-" Rose said in his ear. "-and you're married to some witch-" Dimitri huffed "-she'll have to learn to share you with me."

Dimitri laughed, pulling back. "I'm sure we can work something out."

"I'm serious," Rose told him. "I have more right on you than any girlfriend or wife ever will."

* * *

**AN: Is Rose possessive or what? Dimitri's imaginary future wife is already a 'witch' :P The last sentence there is oddly my favorite one :D**

**Leave me a review and let me know what you think :)**

**As for my other stories, I seriously hope to update soon but I'm caught up in writing another story of mine which isn't a fanfiction. Also, I've written a romitri one-shot but each time I read it, I want to change something or the other. I hope to upload it soon.**

**Thanks for reading :)**


	10. Dimitri's girl

**Hello! :)**

**Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favorites. This chapter is dedicated to everyone who has ever taken the time to review this story. Thanks a lot! :D**

**DISCLAIMER: Characters belong to Richelle Mead and the plot belongs to me ;)**

**This is one of the long chapters, showing the aftermath of Rose's realization. Enjoy :P**

* * *

_A true friend is someone who can understand your past, believe in your future and accept you for who you are today._

_-Unknown_

* * *

**Mission Commander Rose Hathaway**

"We need to leave Sietera," Dimitri told me grimly.

I sighed, watching the star Ceres disappear over the horizon. It was dusk and as usual, I was at the deck of Klasana.

This time, Dimitri was with me.

Ever since the day he found me here, he'd taken to joining me.

I wasn't sure I felt about that. On one hand, I didn't want to be alone with him after my new found, self discovered fact that I was harboring a dangerous crush on him. On the other, I was grateful for the company.

Because sometimes, when we were too tired to talk or argue with each other, we settled into a companionable silence. A resonant silence that reminded me of my childhood with him; the times when no words were needed to understand each other, when silence was anything but uncomfortable.

"Rose?" his deep voice roused me from my thoughts.

I sighed. "Yes, Dimitri. We need to leave. But where do we go from here? Sietera is the only planet in this galaxy that we know about."

Dimitri nodded, his eyes fixed on the beautiful sky outside. The fading light of the star Ceres softened the hard planes of his face and made his features all that much more appealing. This man knew how to make a girl breathless without even doing anything.

"Wouldn't a quest for a new planet be dangerous?" I asked him quietly, coming back to the conversation.

"Yes," he sighed. "But we don't have a choice."

"I don't know," I said, looking at my hands. "I don't know what to do anymore. I'm so confused."

"Rose," Dimitri said softly, gripping my hand in his. "You'll make the right choice."

"If I don't?" I asked him, studying his hand on mine. "I don't want to suck at being a commander."

"You aren't. You won't," he told me firmly. "You're the best person for the job, Rose."

When I met his eyes which was full of trust and belief in me, my mind wandered back to the only other day I'd seen that look in his eyes.

The day after Alberta's death.

* * *

_**Flashback**_

Alberta.

Dead.

Alberta is dead.

_Dead..._

I took a deep, shuddering breath in a vain attempt to calm my mind. But nothing, nothing was working. Half of my mind was chaotic, wondering what would happen to us, to the mission now that we'd lost our commander. The other half was my mind was numb with grief, exhausted after the ordeal of watching Alberta die, exhausted because of the endless tears and the heartache.

I wiped my face with my hands as I glanced around the room, taking in my friends' state.

Lissa was sniffing quietly; few drops of her tears floating around near her. Christian sat next to her, his hand entwined with hers but his eyes were fixed on the ceiling. Adrian looked worse than I felt, his suppressed grief and exhaustion visible clearly on his face. Tasha sat dabbing her eyes with her handkerchief, both her hands clenching Dimitri's hand.

Dimitri sat between Tasha and I, his face set in a hard mask. He did nothing to soothe Tasha's quiet crying. He didn't look like he had in him to console anyone. But his arm was around me, knowing instinctively that I needed his support. He'd not stepped away from me since the moment we knew Alberta was no more.

Despite everything that had happened between us, he was there for me.

I owed it to him and to my friends to pull myself together.

"We need a new commander," I said quietly but it still echoed through the room.

"Rose-" Lissa hesitated. "Is this the time?"

"Yes, Lissa." I said firmly. "We need to do this now. As much as I hate to say it, we need to continue our mission and return home as soon as possible."

My words sparked fresh tears in Lissa's eyes. "We can't replace Alberta."

When I opened my mouth to reply, Christian said, "Give it a rest, Rose. Now is not the time. We can talk about this later."

"No," I stated, shooting him a glare. "Need I remind you all that we're running a race against time here? We're millions of light years away from home and we came here to achieve something. Even the delay of a single day can be dangerous."

Christian looked angry but I continued talking before he could say anything.

"No one is trying to replace Alberta," I said, looking at the faces of my friends. "But we _don't_ have unlimited time to find viela. We're surviving on limited resources and I'll be damned if I let you waste it by sitting in a corner and grieving. That's not what Alberta would have wanted."

I hated to phrase my words like that but I had to do it. The fools wanted to sit and cry? Well, tough luck. We don't get time bonuses in space.

"She's right," Dimitri said. "We need to choose a leader."

"Thank you," I said quietly.

Slowly, each one came around, agreeing with the idea.

"I choose Lissa." Christian said, eyes soft as he gazed at her.

Lissa gave him a watery smile before turning to me. "I choose Rose."

Wait, what?

I rolled my eyes. "Don't let your personal feelings get in the way of this."

Lissa smiled and shook her head. "I didn't volunteer your name because you're my best friend. I said it because I believe you can be a great commander."

As always I was amazed by her endless faith in me. "Thanks, Liss."

I took a deep breath, knowing who was the best for the job. " I choose-" I locked eyes with Dimitri. "Dimitri."

"And I choose Rose," Dimitri stated, smirking slightly at my shocked expression.

"I vote you, Dimka," Tasha said, squeezing his hand and causing me to break my eye contact with Dimitri when I turned to look at those hands holding his.

Everyone turned to Adrian. His was the final vote.

"Don't look at me," he said, wiping his face. "I'll always choose Rose."

"Then I change my vote to Dimitri," Christian said. "No offense, Rose."

"None taken," I replied.

I knew Christian and Dimitri were good friends from high school. As much I hated the fact that personal feelings were playing a role in the selection, it wasn't within my power to stop them.

"So, we have a tie." Lissa stated.

"No, we don't." I said firmly. "It will be Dimitri."

"Rose, no." Dimitri said, shaking his head. "You're the most suitable one for this job."

"No, I'm not." I disagreed, narrowing my eyes at Dimitri. "You have more experience than me. It's natural that you should lead us."

"I may have more experience in being a pilot," Dimitri said patiently. "But you have more experience with leadership."

I scoffed.

"Listen to me, _Roza._" He insisted, "You know a lot about the crew's specialization. A leader needs to know what the team is capable of doing in order to make best use of the team."

"I do know that," I conceded. "But that's because of my father. He-"

"The fact remains that you do know more," Dimitri said, cutting me off.

I glared at him.

"That doesn't mean I can be a good leader." I retorted.

"I already know you are a good leader," Dimitri's said quietly, his eyes full of warmth and trust in me.

At this point, I'd forgotten there were others in the room with us. I forgot all the bitterness between Dimitri and I. All I could see was my best friend, the one with endless faith in me.

"You are too," I protested softly.

"You're better," Dimitri stated firmly, removing his hand from Tasha's to catch hold of mine. "You-you have a fire within you, _Roza_. One that drives you to do the best you can and help those who need it. That's what makes you an incredible leader. That's what makes you _you_."

Those familiar deep brown eyes of his were full of reassurance, faith, pride, and hell of a lot more. He believed I could do this.

He believed in me.

"Dimitri..." I groaned softly, running out of arguments.

Dimitri's lips tilted up in a full smile.

"Any arguments?" Dimitri asked, looking around at everyone.

Tasha looked like she wanted to protest but before she could say anything, Christian said, "We have no problem with Rose being the commander."

Dimitri smiled and kissed my cheek fleetingly.

"She'll do it." He stated with certainty.

* * *

**Sietera: Next afternoon.**

"Are you sure you're okay, Rose?"

Lissa's quiet question made me glance away from the test reports I'd been studying since the past one hour. Not that there was much to study, of course. After all, I was the one who'd compiled these reports.

The only thing I'd achieved by staring at the reports was an increase in my stress level. I'd carried out detailed analysis of all the samples collected and the result? No viela at all. We'd just gotten lucky with the soil. But traces of viela are not enough to save the earth...

"Rose?" Lissa prompted.

"Right," I muttered, taking off my glasses. All of us had one pair of reading glasses other than the normal lab goggles. Staying in outer space for a long time can have weird effects on the body. Trouble with reading is one of the many. I'd never needed them but today, I'd spend way too much time in the lab, hence the reading problem.

"Lissa, I'm fine." I said, turning to her.

"Why did you faint then?" She asked with a frown.

I shrugged, doing my best to appear nonchalant. "I guess I was tired. What with the research and all, I've not slept much. So, the space walk completely drained me."

Lissa nodded slowly, swallowing my lie.

Who knows? Maybe that _is_ the truth. Maybe I really don't have Cotopa...

"You should rest," Lissa said, gesturing to the reports spread in front of me. "You should also stop working so much. We are all here, you know. We can help."

I stuck my nose in the hair, flipping my hair haughtily. "But none of you are as good as me."

I succeeded in making Lissa laugh. Her clear, bell-like laughter managed to erase the growing guilt bubbling within me.

I was lying to my best friend. Or at least, I was holding back a lot of information.

Lissa would be so pissed at me if she knew.

But I couldn't tell her. If it was up to me, I'd ensure that no one would ever know about my 'condition'. I was their leader. I had to stay strong. It was bad enough that I didn't have more experience than my crew and was almost their equal. I didn't need to point out my weaknesses.

Broadcasting that I may have a deadly disease can be perceived as a weakness.

And I'm anything but weak.

"We may not be as good as you, your highness," Lissa teased, still smiling. "But we can help."

I smirked, standing up and heading to the door. "I can manage it, Liss. I always do."

I can manage it. I will have to.

"Rose?" Tasha's voice halted me on my way to the Control Room to find Adrian and Dimitri. We had discuss the results of the lab tests and I wanted it done today.

"Yes, Tasha?" I asked, turning to face her.

She smiled and handed me some sheets of paper. "I've finished the calculations of Ceres."

I nodded. "Great. Come with me to the Control Room. We have much to discuss."

Nodding, she fell into step beside me. As we walked, I reviewed Tasha's calculations. I had limited knowledge of her field but as a captain, I had to oversee her work.

Tasha patiently explained her research to me as we walked. But both of us paused when we heard clear laughter coming from the Control Room.

It was Dimitri.

I'd know the rich, deep sound of his laughter anywhere. The other two voices must be Christian and Adrian.

Shaking my head, I turned to ask Tasha a question only to find her gazing at the door to the Control Room in a manner that could only be described as love sick.

I could understand. Dimitri's laughter was indeed spell-binding. But her expression didn't sit well with me.

I nearly groaned at the realization that I was...maybe-_jealous?!_

No! I had too much crap to deal without adding jealousy to the list.

So, instead of punching Tasha like I wanted, I just cleared my throat softly. Thankfully, Tasha returned to the present with a blush.

Before I could say something, Adrian's voice reached us: "Well, that decision is Rose's to make. We can just try to convince her."

"Good luck with that," Christian said dryly. "Knowing Rose, you'll need a list of reasons to support your argument."

Adrian hummed.

Christian's voice turned curious. "By the way, where is your girl?"

My heart constricted.

Who was he addressing? Adrian or Dimitri?

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Tasha brighten.

"Down in the lab," came Dimitri's voice with a hint of exasperation. "She's been there for hours now."

Trying to distract myself from the butterflies taking flight in my stomach, I concentrated on Tasha whose expression turned puzzled. But still hopeful.

"I don't know why you insist on calling her 'his' girl," Adrian said petulantly. "She'll kill you if she finds out."

Yes. It was me they were talking about. I knew it and it looked like Tasha was just realizing it.

The very first time Dimitri had introduced me to Christian, he'd called me 'Dimitri's girl' because he'd apparently heard a lot about me from Dimitri. It had been few days after I'd arrived at the space agency where Dimitri and Christian had already been working. At that time, all I'd been concerned about was the fact that I'd been reunited with my best friend after so long.

For quite sometime, Christian had stuck with calling me 'Dimitri's girl'. He'd kinda dropped it as we got to know each other and had found a variety of other unflattering nicknames for me.

I hadn't known that he still used it to refer to me.

Now, as I heard the phrase again, I felt a deep warmth spreading through my body. Trying to hide a smile, I nudged Tasha to move into the room. We'd been standing here long enough.

"Please!" Christian said. "I've always called her that."

"Rose wouldn't-"

"I wouldn't what, Adrian?" I asked, stepping into the room.

Adrian shook his head in reply while Christian smirked. Without looking at Dimitri, I crossed the room to activate Mia.

"Gather around, guys." I called, moving to the large observation table directly under the part of roof where Mia's central processing unit was located. "We need to discuss the test results."

As Mia came alive and started teasing Christian, I caught Dimitri's eye from across the table.

_Dimitri's girl, indeed._

* * *

**AN: So, what do you think? Of Dimitri being the one who encouraged Rose to take up captaincy and Christian calling Rose 'Dimitri's girl'? I don't see Dimitri protesting :P The only one who doesn't seem to like it is Tasha, huh? :D  
**

**How was the chapter? Leave me a _review_ and let me know what you think ;)**_  
_

**Lastly, I'm sorry for any/all mistakes :)**


	11. Beginning of the end?

**Hello! :)**

**I'm truly sorry for the delay in updating but I'm helpless. Right now, I'm going through what I'm convinced is the most grueling time I've ever experienced in my student life. Let me not bore you with the details. I'll probably have to talk about it in my other story anyway. **

**I don't think I've replied to all the reviews as usual. If you haven't got a reply, I'm truly sorry! Just know that I value you all :D**

**This chapter is a flashback but not a childhood memory. Enjoy ;)**

* * *

_No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded by each other's worth._

_-Robert Southey_

* * *

**Rose Hathaway: Age 24**

"The first images of planet Yaba, sent by Torro 32 will be live in 3, 2, 1..."

A beep sounded in the air as the large screen lit up with first ever images of the planet Yaba. The team of scientists monitoring and controlling the satellite Torro 32 stood up in unison and clapped, pleased with the success.

I clapped politely, trying to appear nonchalant while my insides somersaulted wildly.

Dr. Abraham Hensley, a middle-aged, experienced astronaut turned to me with a smile. "Nothing is impossible in J.S.A, Pilot Hathaway. With you on board now, we hope to reach new heights."

"I will do my very best, sir." I assured him, warmed by his words.

Dr. Hensley grinned. "Your best is enough, Pilot. It's more than enough. Now, come. Let me give you a tour of our headquarters."

Resisting the urge to jump with joy, I followed the good professor as he led me through the enormous facility that was the headquarters of Janana Space Agency.

_The_ J.S.A.

My goal, my dream, my greatest objective in life.

My fixation.

How often had I locked myself in the attic, studying the stars through the old, battered telescope? How often had I sacrificed spending time with friends to hole up in my room and study astronomy? How many times had I given up everything to pursue my dream?

Too many times to count.

Nothing could beat this moment for me.

I was finally where I wanted to be; who I wanted to be - A fully fledged Pilot Astronaut, employed in the biggest space agency on the planet.

Of course, I could have gotten into J.S.A two years ago if not for my desire to continue studying and to obtain a PhD. But I'd figured that it was best to get my studies out of the way so that I'd be able to focus solely on my career.

After a short tour, I was taken to the office which would be mine.

_My own office._

When did I get so old?

"Welcome to the team, Pilot Hathaway."

With those words, Dr. Hensley left me here all on my own.

I took a deep breath and let myself experience this sweet moment. I felt like laughing loudly and jumping around the room. I was high, positively soaring with happiness and that unique sense of accomplishment that came with achieving the one goal I'd worked so hard for.

Impulsively, I let out a whoop of joy.

Only to jump the next second when a light knock echoed through the office.

_My_ office.

Bouncing lightly on the balls of my feet, I hurried to open the door.

"Yes-?"

I faltered at the sight awaiting me at the other side of the door.

My body froze, locked up in shock.

I felt as if the very air was knocked out of my lungs.

"Surprised?" came the voice that I'd know anywhere.

"Like hell!" I gasped, surprising myself.

This cannot be happening. How could he possibly-?

A deep chuckle penetrated through the cloud of disbelief that had ensnared my brain.

He chuckled.

_My best friend_ just chuckled, looking thoroughly amused.

Did that make him more real?

I wonder if he'd disappear if I touched him. Of course, he would. I'd been so hyper seconds ago and that had evidently affected my brain.

I was now hallucinating.

_Way to go, Rose!_

"Rose?" he asked cautiously, confusion swirling in those dark brown eyes that held immense power over me. Confusion rising out my reaction, possibly. Now, why would a hallucination appear confused?

I frowned. "Wait, you're talking?"

He frowned in return. "Of course I'm talking."

I frowned even more.

Dimitri, my best friend and the person that meant most to me in the entire world was standing before me and I was frowning?

But he wasn't real.

Of course, he wasn't.

Over the years of our separation, I would often imagine situations where I'd have a mental conversation with him. I'm ashamed to admit that it had been my coping mechanism for all these years. Growing up, he'd been the only constant in my chaotic life with my absentee parents and having him ripped away from me had disturbed me in more ways than one.

But we'd stayed in contact. We'd never let our bond crumple and fade away.

But we'd never been able to meet.

"Rose?" he called again. "Are you okay?"

I shook my head slowly, peering up at him. Never before had I imagined so many details. Nor had I ever managed to recreate the exact contours of his face in my mind, despite hours spent on video calls with him.

"I'm imagining you, aren't I?" I asked Dimitri, needing to end the confusion.

Dimitri looked stunned for a moment before he burst out laughing. The deep laughter wrapped around me like a caress.

"Oh, _Roza_." Dimitri sighed before sadness clouded his eyes. "I've missed you so much."

Hesitantly, he lifted his hand and ran his fingers over my cheek.

A jolt of electricity passed through me at his touch, which still remained oh,_ so_ familiar.

Tears sprang into my eyes at the realization that he was here.

Really here.

My mitya, my comrade...my Dimitri.. he was really here!

"Dimitri?"

He nodded, his eyes bright as if full of unshed tears while mine were overflowing.

Without hesitation, I threw myself into those arms that I knew for sure would catch me.

"_Roza..._" Dimitri whispered as he wrapped his arms around me securely.

Sobs burst out as my body shook, overwhelmed by the myriad emotions swirling within me. I didn't know what to think, what to say or what to do. All I knew was that my best friend was finally with me.

I was home.

I pulled back slightly to look at him, drinking him in hungrily.

He cupped my face gently as his eyes took in my features with an urgency, almost as if he was afraid that I'd disappear any moment.

I knew the feeling all too well.

Swiping angrily at the tears clouding my vision of him, I laughed unsteadily when Dmitri wiped away my tears.

His thumb rubbed my cheek soothingly.

"I can't believe you're here," he said softly, eyes full of awe and wonder.  
I smiled shakily. "I know. I can't barely believe it myself."

"Why didn't tell me anything when I called yesterday?" Dimitri asked, arching an eyebrow.

The familiar gesture made me want to cry again. I know, I know; I've seen it so many times. In fact, we'd just had a video call session two days ago. But there was something so powerful about seeing it in person.

Seeing _him_ in person.

"I didn't know if I'd make it," I told him. "I got a call this morning saying that I'd been accepted."

"Of course you've been accepted. How did you even doubt that?"

I just shrugged, leaning into his hand that rested on my cheek. I was still reeling by his sudden appearance.

But the deep warmth spreading slowly through my veins was a token of reassurance that he was here in flesh; that he was finally with me.

Dimitri's small sigh told me that he was feeling the same sense of contentment.

We spent the rest of the day catching up. That was not strictly accurate since we knew almost everything going on in each other's life.

But we've never ever run out of topics to speak about.

Before we knew it, it was nightfall.

I peered up at Dimitri from where my head was resting on his shoulder. "Did you not have any work today?"

Dimitri shook his head, playing with my hair. "When I heard that you were here, I took the day off."

I smirked. "The great Dimitri Belikov takes a day off from work? Because of me? I'm so honored."

Dimitri rolled his eyes but a small grin was etched on his lips. Before he could say anything, a small beep came from his coat pocket.

Excusing himself, Dimitri took out his phone and frowned at the screen for a moment before grinning. "Rose?"

I yawned, feeling tired from all the excitement. "Yes?"

"What do you say to meeting a few of my friends?"

I blinked. "Now?"

Dimitri shrugged. "Why not? It'll just be Christian and Ivan."

I grinned, sitting up. "Let's go. I'm dying to meet your new best friend, mitya. I have to check if he's good enough for you."

Dimitri laughed heartily. "I'll be shocked if you and Ivan don't get along. You're too alike."

I faked a sniffle. "I see what's going on here. You've replaced me!"

Dimitri shook his head in exasperation as I locked my office. "It's impossible to replace you, _Roza. _I'm yet to find someone as mercurial as you."

I punched his arm. "Hey!"

Dimitri chuckled, "That's exactly what I mean."

We laughed and talked the whole way to the coffee shop where Ivan and Christian were supposed to be waiting.

"Over here!"

Dimitri and I turned to see a tall man with wavy blond hair and a cheeky grin waving at us.

Ivan.

I'd seen several pictures of him with Dimitri and another black haired guy who was currently immersed in his phone.

Dimitri grinned and led me over to them.

"Rose Hathaway in flesh!" Ivan smiled widely when we approached them. "I've heard a lot about you."

I grinned up at Dimitri. "And I've heard a lot about you, Ivan."

Ivan winked, "All good I hope."

I shrugged. "It's a matter of perspective."

Ivan laughed loudly as Dimitri pulled out a chair for me at the table. "I see what you mean, Dimka. She's a spit-fire, alright."

"She's exactly what we expected," Christian chimed in, finally tearing his eyes away from his cell phone to shoot me a smirk. Then he turned to Ivan and said, "But you'd think his girl would be a little more..._tame_, right?"

"Tame?" I scoffed. "The only _wild_ person I see here is you."

Dimitri and Ivan laughed when I pointed at Christian's dark, unkempt hair that resembled a lion's mane.

"Dimitri's girl sure is feisty," Christian smirked, still continuing to refer to me as if I wasn't there.

"And you sure are a bore," I said, rolling my eyes.

Dimitri grinned. "Don't mind him."

"Yeah," Ivan said, nudging Christian. "He likes to get under people's skin. But once he gets to know you, he'll be all cute and cuddly like a teddy bear."

All three of us burst out laughing at Christian's scowl.

It was a little disconcerting how quickly I adjusted to these two. I almost felt like I knew them for a long time, especially Ivan who Dimitri had often spoken about.

"Dimitri," Christian called, checking his cell phone again."You've got to finish your module today, man. I've to assemble it tonight."

Christian looked at me apologetically when he spoke.

Dimitri sighed.

I nudged him. "It's okay, comrade. Go."

"But-"

"We'll be colleagues from now on," I reminded him despite the urge to ask him to stay. "We'll have plenty of time to catch up."

Dimitri nodded reluctantly. "I'll see you tomorrow then?"

I nodded, fixing a small smile on my face.

Pressing a small kiss to my forehead, Dimitri walked out of the coffee shop with Christian, leaving behind a deep ache inside me.

I wanted him back but I knew I was being irrational.

He has work to do.

Besides, we'll be seeing each other daily from tomorrow.

"You know, Rose." Ivan's voice brought me out of my gloom. "Why don't I escort you to the staff residence? It's located on the opposite side of the campus and quite easy to get lost in."

He was trying to cheer me up.

Grateful for the help, I walked with Ivan to the residential parts. On the way, Ivan regaled me with stories of his 'adventures' with Christian and Dimitri. Mainly Dimitri.

A small pang shot through me as I heard all the stories.

Ivan talked about Dimitri in a familiar, brotherly sort of way and I was confused to admit that it bothered me a little.

Why should it bother me?

Dimitri may have had lots of fun with his friends but that had no connection to my friendship with him. He wouldn't have forgotten about me, right?

But I had to acknowledge the fact that I had suffered all these years without him and it didn't look like he had.

Not that I wanted him to suffer.

Or go through what I did.

But he must have missed me. Even though Ivan's tales didn't indicate it.

No. Rather, I got the impression that Dimitri had been happy, _very_ happy without me.

Sure, he did call me often. But was that just because of his sense of obligation towards a girl who had been his best friend?

Why would he need her now, what with a new best friend and all?

Earlier in the day, I'd joked that Dimitri had replaced me.

Now, I feared it being the truth.

* * *

**AN: I hope this chapter gave you a glimpse of the beginning of the end of romitri. Kidding! :D But I hope you see what direction their friendship could take after this and why they are the way they are now. Okay, I will not confuse you further :D**

**Sorry for that hallucination thing in between. It was dramatic but it suited my purpose :D**

**Also, sorry for any/all mistakes. Blame my excessive tiredness and lack of concentration and over-burdened mind and...Well, you get the gist! Leave me a review and let me know what you thought about this chapter! **

**Your reviews make my day :)**


	12. Boom!

**I know it's been a while since the last update and I'm sorry for that. I just want to say**** that I've been selected to work in T.C.S, an IT company which had visited my college to select students. Though I do have a year of education to go, I now have a job on hand. This is the reason for my absence: I've been busy preparing :)  
**

**Also, I'd like to address the review sent by 'Hidesign' who expressed a disinterest in the flashbacks scenes. I just want to say thanks for the review and ask the others a question: Do you not like the flashbacks? Personally, I love writing them, especially Rose and Dimitri's childhood but I want to know what you readers think. Do let me know :) **

**Enjoy the chapter :)**

* * *

_Best friends are with you the yesterday before the beginning and will be there until the day after tomorrow._

_-Unknown_

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**Mission Commander Rose Hathaway**

I gripped the edge of the table as I breathed in deeply, hoping to alleviate the severe pain gripping my abdomen. My legs felt weak and my hands were shaking as I tried, desperately, to not give in to the pain; to not curl up right here on the floor.

Dark spots started appearing before my eyes as another wave of pain clenched my stomach.

I have to control this.

I_ must_ control this.

The sound of door opening rung alarm bells in my head. I didn't want anyone to see me like this.

I didn't want anyone to see my moment of weakness.

But I was helpless. I couldn't do anything.

If I'd had any doubts regarding the disease, they were now clarified.

I did have Cotopa.

Admitting it to myself was scary enough. Worse yet were the questions swimming before my eyes.

_Would it kill me before I could complete my mission?_

_Would I fail the earth? My crew?_

The sound of fast approaching footsteps brought me back to the crisis on hand.

Someone was hurrying towards me.

"Go away," I murmured to whoever had found me.

"No!" came a firm voice.

I didn't know whether to be relieved or frustrated. Relieved because it was Dimitri who'd found me and he already knew about the disease. Frustrated because it was _Dimitri. _

I opened my eyes to see Dimitri crouching before me.

"Rose?" he asked gently.

When I opened my mouth to reply, he cut me off. "Do not tell me you're fine."

I smiled slightly. He knew me so well...

"Stomach pain?" he asked, noticing the way I'd wrapped my arms around my mid-riff.

I nodded, hissing slightly as another wave of pain pricked my stomach.

"Okay," he said calmly. "Breathe in, Rose."

I glared at him. _Breathe in?_

He didn't budge. "That's the only remedy. Now, breathe in deeply."

He took a deep breath, urging me to the same. Helpless, I did as he said. To my surprise, the pain receded after a few minutes.

"Okay?" Dimitri asked me, his eyes anxious.

I nodded reluctantly. Now that the pain was gone, I could focus on the fact that it'd been _Dimitri_ who'd found me.

"Save the lecture," I hissed when he opened his mouth.

Dimitri smirked unexpectedly. "You have no proof that I was about to give one."

He sounded so much like me that my jaw dropped. Seeing this, he chuckled which turned to laughter when I tried to hit him.

"Did you want me for something? Other than to laugh your ass off?" I asked, pissed.

"The Earth Center wants to do a conference call," Dimitri told me, a smile still curling on the edges of his lips. "So, I came here to get you."

Abruptly, his mirth disappeared, making way to a neutral mask. I almost groaned, knowing what was coming,

"_Rose..._" Both of us said in unison, in the same weary tone.

Dimitri looked at me with an uncharacteristically surprised expression that made me laugh. Which, in turn, made my stomach hurt.

"I know well enough, comrade." I told him, trying not to show the pain I was feeling.

He smiled sadly, knowing that I was just trying to put on a brave face.

"I don't know what to do to help you," he admitted, looking distressed. His eyebrows were furrowed, his eyes brimming with worry. There was no mask on his face now. Without it, he looked...haggard.

As if he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

For my Dimitri to let go of that damned mask...Well, it spoke volumes about his worry for me.

I hated that I couldn't assuage his fear.

Giving in momentarily to the rising hopelessness, I chuckled bleakly. "I don't know what to do to help me, either."

Slowly, I raised myself from the floor, swatting away his helping hand. "I may be dying-" I said, ignoring his flinch. "-but let me die with dignity."

"Your _dignity_ will not decrease if you accept help." Dimitri said, clenching his jaw.

Yup, I was definitely making him angry. It was really bizarre how easily I could make his mood fluctuate.

"You know that I do have an ego," I joked.

"You're so stubborn, Rose." He said, looking up at the ceiling as though praying for patience.

I smirked. "Haven't I always been?"

Dimitri smiled nostalgically. "Of course you have."

I shrugged lightly. "Come on. Earth's calling."

Dimitri gripped my elbow when I made to walk past him and spun me around gently to face him.

He held me close, more closer than I wanted.

It was hard to ignore the attraction when we were so close.

Hard to ignore the electricity pulsing from his skin to mine. Hard to ignore his scent, his body...his allure which was further heightened by the steely glint in his eyes.

The lines of his face were hard, his jaw clenched firmly. This was his 'determined' expression.

"You're not going to die." He told me, his tone leaving no scope for arguments.

But I was never one to toe the line.

Especially a line drawn by Dimitri.

"If that's what you want to believe," I retorted glibly, making him more angry.

"I can't believe you're giving up!" Dimitri said incredulously. "The girl I knew would never have given up."

"The girl you knew is gone." I told him, enjoying his anger.

It was for the best anyway: him being angry with me. More the distance, lesser the suffering when I meet my inevitable end.

"Clearly," he snapped.

I wrenched my elbow from his grip, tired of this argument. But Dimitri didn't let go. He caught hold of my shoulders and pulled me to him.

Standing so close to him, I couldn't help but notice his features. Stormy dark eyes, stubborn chin and a ruggedly handsome face. His dark, silky hair was tied back as usual with the wayward strands tucked behind his ears. As always, some strands had escaped the hair tie at the nape of his neck and instead lay against his cheek.

He was _gorgeous._

And _soo _not for me.

For one, he didn't think of me that way. For another, we had a complicated history together.

And most importantly, my future was very uncertain so absolutely no romance for me.

Not that he thought of me that way.

Of course not.

But as weird as it sounds, his anger was kinda turning me on.

That was the only explanation for why I was feeling the way I was feeling now. I was attracted to him physically. Just physically.

If that was not true, then I was probably attracted to him because of...nostalgia. Or something.

There couldn't be any other explanation.

I didn't do giddy and nervous. I only knew science; hard and cool logic. Not butterflies in the stomach science.

"How can you do this?" he asked me, still hung up on my words.

"Do what?" I asked.

_Shit! Did my voice sound breathless?_

"Give up." Dimitri said through clenched teeth.

"Because I've accepted that it is my fate." I told him, trying to make him see things from my perspective.

"It doesn't have to be," he replied angrily, shaking me a little. "Maybe it will go away. Cotopa vanishes without a trace."

"In rare cases," I pointed out. "Last time, I had treatment. That's not happening this time so what's the cure?"

He didn't have an answer to that and I could tell that he hated it.

"Exactly!" I exclaimed but my voice lacked triumph. I wanted so badly to believe him but I didn't want to give myself false hope.

Dimitri sighed, anger draining out of him. His expression now turned weary. "I thought you were the optimistic one?"

I smiled, remembering how I used to refer to myself as 'optimistic' when we were younger. I'd dubbed Dimitri a 'worrywart' and me an optimist. Funny how Dimitri seemed to have taken over both the labels now.

"Let's go, Dimitri." I said, tired.

He nodded and pressed a kiss to my forehead, surprising the hell out of me. "You go on," he said as if he'd done nothing out of ordinary. Maybe it wasn't. Out of ordinary, I mean.

For him, it wasn't.

But that small kiss had sparked a strange warmth within me. I felt as if I'd just drunk a mug of Dimitri's special hot chocolate.

Shaking my head slightly, I left the lab and headed up the stairs to the control room. On top of the staircase, I turned around to look for Dimitri, catching a glimpse of him disappearing below deck, to where our rooms were located.

Strange...

Brushing it off, I walked the rest of the way to the Control room.

"Mia!" I greeted cheerfully when I heard her voice teasing Christian.

"Hello, Rose!" came her gleeful reply. "Please ask Christina to stop harassing me."

"It's _Christian._ And I'm not harassing you!" came Christian's defensive reply.

Lissa giggled quietly from the corner. Adrian and Tasha weren't here yet.

Christian was at the Central control panel, haphazardly throwing on switches, testing the screens and turning knobs. No doubt he was trying to establish a connection with the earth station.

"You so are!" Mia told Christian, her tone light. "You can be gentle with my buttons, you know. No need to press so hard. If I were human, I'd be feeling the pain. Plus, you're hovering and not leaving me alone!"

Both Lissa and I burst out laughing at the harried look on Christian's face.

"Mia!" Christian shouted in frustration, probably embarrassed over the fact that _Lissa_ was laughing at him.

Mia giggled.

"Let him concentrate, Mia." I told her. "You can have your fun later."

"Whatever you say, Rose." Mia said, in her default cheerful tone.

We sat silently for a few minutes, watching Christian fiddle with the machines. After a while, Christian whooped softly and turned to us. "We'll be live in a few minutes. Go, get the others."

He definitely did not use that tone with Lissa. Meaning, he was talking to me.

I rose up. "You need to remember two things, buddy. One: You sound just like a radio jockey or a TV anchor and you're neither so don't pretend to be. Two:_ I_ am the captain._ I_ give orders, not you."

Lissa chuckled as Christian rolled his eyes. "Fine, Miss Captain. Can you please fetch the others?"

I smirked at him and turned away. Winking at Lissa, I left the room in search of the others. Since I already knew where Dimitri was, I headed down to call him first.

But when I opened the door to Dimitri's room, I was greeted by an empty room.

Deciding to check the other rooms in hopes of finding one of the three missing crew members, I approached Tasha's door.

Strange sounds reached my ears as I walked over to her door. She'd been complaining for a while now that the sound-proof sheath of her room wasn't working. But we'd had more important stuff to worry about so it'd not been fixed.

Standing in front of Tasha's door, I tried to make sense of the noises.

A few groans.

And a very feminine moan.

What the hell was going on?

Without thinking about it, I flung open the door, not even registering the fact that the door wasn't locked.

What I saw on Tasha's bed knocked the breath out of me.

* * *

**AN: Waiting for the assumptions and accusations to be thrown at me ;)**

**Caution: No flames, please. If you don't like, don't read. I know there are a lot of 'guest' reviewers in here who leave scathing messages if they don't like the way a story is progressing. I must ask you to kindly refrain. Nothing you say will change my mind, I promise :D**

**Romitri is the end game. Always. **


	13. Friends, forever and always

**You asked, I'm obliging :P **

**Thanks for believing in me *sniff* So much faith, guys! I love you all! Here's the reward :D**

**Enjoy :)**

**DISCLAIMER: Characters - Richelle Mead; Idea- good old me :P**

* * *

_As we go on, we remember, all the times we had together,_

_ and as our lives change, come whatever, we will still be _

_~friends forever~_

_ -Unknown_

* * *

**Pilot astronaut Rose Hathaway**

The world spun before my stupefied eyes. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Twisting and twining on the bed were two figures. Two naked figures.

Tasha.

And...

"Adrian?" I gasped silently as I watched them with growing disgust and shock. Neither of them noticed me, too busy with and in each other.

I couldn't seem to look away even though I knew it was wrong on so many levels.

I don't think I even registered the details of what they were doing. All I knew was shock.

Horrifying shock.

A hand appeared in my periphery and pulled the door shut slowly. Deft fingers, light on my shoulder, turned me away from the door.

"What-?" was all I could muster.

My shock was quickly turned to incredulity. "What the fuck was-?"

A pair of laughing brown eyes met mine.

"Shh!" Dimitri whispered, a amused smile curling on the edges of his lips. "Don't disturb them."

I glared at him. "What they're doing is against the rules."

Dimitri chuckled softly and put his arm around my shoulder. "Since when have you been advocate for rules?"

I shook my head as Dimitri lead me away from the room. "You know I'm not. But this...if the Earth Center ever finds out-"

"-they won't." Dimitri interrupted. "Besides, it doesn't really concern them."

"You knew!" I accused softly.

"I suspected." Dimitri corrected me.

I exhaled.

Tasha and Adrian. _My God!_

It was so bizarre but made perfect sense once I thought about it.

Pieces clicked into place as I remembered the weirdly nonchalant way Adrian and Tasha treated each other. It was almost as if they ignored each other. But it had been Adrian who had told us about Tasha's room not being sound-proof anymore. The numerous times that Tasha hadn't been around with us, Adrian hadn't been there too. Both seemed to disappear at the same time occasionally.

It was obvious now that I knew the truth.

"I'm such an idiot!" I said out loud.

Dimitri squeezed my shoulder comfortingly. "None of us realized it. I just had my suspicions, that's all. Christian and Lissa are still clueless."

"But," I frowned. "Tasha's so smitten by you!"

Dimitri smiled slightly. "She was. Is."

"Isn't she your girlfriend?" I asked slyly.

Dimitri had never exactly denied it before. Hopefully, he clears it up now...

But what I got was a scandalized look from him.

"You thought she and I were together?" he asked me incredulously.

His obvious shock was making my slightly embarrassed. But I shrugged lightly in reply. "Not really but I didn't know for sure. You never said no."

"I never said yes."

"Maybe," I grinned, feeling oddly light. "But I know that if you were dating someone-or even if you liked someone-you'd not tell us."

Dimitri looked thoughtful. "I wouldn't prefer to publicize it, yes. But if I had been with Tasha, I'm sure you'd all know about it."

I laughed. "Probably true. That woman would be screaming at the top of her lungs that _her Dimka _loved her."

Dimitri looked a little sick. "Let's not talk about it."

I slapped a hand to my forehead. "Shit! Christian asked me to fetch you all for the conference call. But I really don't want to interrupt Adrian and Tasha."

Dimitri looked back at Tasha's door before striding over and knocking swiftly.

All he said was, "Conference call."

But that did the trick. The voices-moans and groans and all that-stopped immediately followed by Tasha's breathy voice. "I'll be right out!"

Dimitri quickly returned to my side. "Let's go."

"Nah," I smirked, holding his hand to stop him from going away. I ignored the tingles shooting up my arm at the contact. "Let's wait and see their reaction!"

"Rose!" Dimitri chastised.

I stuck my tongue out at him.

Before he could say anything, Tasha poked her head out. She looked horrified to see Dimitri and I in the hallway. "You guys go on. I'll be there in a minute."

Her eyes fell on my hand holding Dimitri's. Anger flashed through her crystalline eyes and I fought the urge to laugh.

"There's no rush, Tasha." I told her smoothly though I was sure Dimitri knew that I was suppressing a smirk. I'd not had a chance to indulge in scheming and plotting for a long time. Now that I could, I wasn't about to let it go.

Of course, the added bonus was that I got to hold Dimitri's hand. Cheesy, I know. But what's a girl got to do?

Adding on a large smile, I said happily, "We'll all go together. Right, Dimitri?"

I squeezed his hand and shot him a fake sweet look.

Dimitri rolled his eyes.

"No, no!" Tasha said, smiling nervously. "You guys go."

"Why?" I asked her bluntly.

She shut her mouth and frowned. "Okay. I'm coming."

She slowly walked over to us.

But I didn't move.

I wasn't done having fun yet.

"Rose?" Tasha said, gesturing for me to walk.

I smiled at her innocently. "Go on, Tasha. I forgot I need to talk to Dimitri."

When she didn't budge, I faked an abashed look. "In private, if you don't mind."

Tasha looked angry at the insinuation and clearly forgot all about Adrian. She threw a pleading look at Dimitri that made _me_ angry.

She didn't like the thought of me talking to Dimitri 'in private'.

Well, tough luck.

Dimitri wasn't her property.

Now, Dimitri could either cave in to her silent plea or stick with me in my devious scheme.

But for me, the choice meant so much more.

He could be his normal chivalrous self and go with Tasha to spare her feelings. Or he could stay here with me despite the fact that he opposed my plan.

It was Tasha or me. Nothing else.

Do the right thing with Tasha or do the wrong thing with me.

_Her_ or _me._

I don't know why I was reading so much into this situation but I couldn't help it. Especially after realizing that I had a crush on Dimitri; that I _wanted _Dimitri.

This moment would either make or break my hope of salvaging our friendship one day.

Dimitri looked from Tasha to me. His face betrayed nothing but I could see that his decision was made.

Without hesitation, he turned to Tasha.

"I have to talk to Rose, Tasha. You go on to the Control Room. We'll join you in a while."

Tasha looked dumbfounded while a massive grin threatened to split my face.

He chose to stay with me.

He chose _me_!

He'd chosen to stay with me, undeterred by the fact that staying with me meant assisting me in my plan to embarrass Adrian or Tasha or both.

It meant going against what he wanted.

But he did it anyway.

"Why?" I asked him once Tasha disappeared up the stairs.

Dimitri simply shrugged. "I've been part of too many of your crazy plans. One more won't hurt."

I grinned, unable to contain the strange happiness bubbling within me. "When are you going to confess that you find my crazy plans hilarious?"

Dimitri smirked. "I'm not confessing anything."

I punched his arm, laughing when he rubbed the spot.

Standing here like this, laughing and joking with Dimitri, I was struck by the realization that Dimitri meant more, far more than I'd allowed myself to believe lately.

He would always be my best friend, no matter what.

I couldn't be attracted to him..._I couldn't! _

Not when we have a friendship to salvage...

"Rose?" Dimitri called softly, sensing the grim turn of my thoughts.

I shook my head slowly. "It's nothing, comrade."

Dimitri just arched a perfect eyebrow.

I sighed. "It's just that I suddenly felt as though-" I paused as Dimitri cocked his head to a side, listening intently. "I-I remembered how much work we have to do. We're stranded, with no prospective planet as the destination. How do we find viela?"

Dimitri appraised me silently.

I tried not to flinch at the realization that he, most probably, knew that I'd just lied to him.

But he didn't call me out on it.

Instead, he reached up to tuck a few stray strands of my hair behind my ear, his thumb caressing my cheek gently.

I leaned into his hand, craving his touch. His eyes-those deep, dark brown eyes-swirled with so many emotions...I could detect a hint of wistfulness in them but what caused my breath to hitch was the tenderness and affection in his eyes.

"How do you do it?" he asked me quietly.

"Do what?" I breathed, distracted.

Dimitri's long, graceful fingers trailed down my cheek slowly. "How do you always manage to put everything else before you?"

"I don't." I whispered, surprised by his words.

"Yes, you do." Dimitri said firmly but oh, so softly. "You pretend as though you're fine, despite knowing..."

He trailed off, frowning. Pain swirled in the depths of those eyes that I loved so much.

I sighed, not really wanting to talk about it but I couldn't seem to stop myself.

There was something about this moment-something that was a reflection of the deep friendship Dimitri and I had shared. Maybe we still did. Maybe we would always be so connected, so_ in tune_ with each other.

All I knew what that I'd missed this. Missed speaking to him without any reservations, missed the bantering, missed the...missed _him._

I let myself lean a little bit more closer to him. "What would you have me do, comrade? This is hard. _So hard_. Knowing that I might have Cotopa-" I took a deep breath of Dimitri-scented air to compose myself. "-But we have work to do. Millions of people are looking to us to succeed. We can't fail them. We can't fail our planet. As much as I hate the fact that I might not live-"

"Don't." Dimitri growled, cutting me off. "Don't finish that sentence."

I tried to smile but I don't think I pulled it off. "You're in denial, Dimitri. You have to accept that it's a probability-"

Dimitri cut me off again. "No. I refuse to accept it. _You will be fine._"

My eyes burned. I blinked, trying hard not to succumb to tears.

"Listen to me, _Roza._" Dimitri appealed, his voice laced with the pain brimming in my heart. "You have to believe that you will be okay. Otherwise, you cannot go on."

I let his words wash over me. Was he right? Would convincing myself that I'd be alright help?

I didn't know.

"_Roza..._" Dimitri sighed as he met my gaze. Gently, he wiped away the tears that had streamed down my cheeks.

I didn't say anything. I couldn't.

I didn't want to.

Instead, I threw my arms around him, knowing instinctively that he would anchor me. He always had.

He was my safe harbor.

My home.

My..._love._

* * *

**AN: Happy? Relieved? Or something else? Leave a review and let me know :P**

**More the reviews, more the number of romitri moments. Speaking of which, how did you like this one? ;)**

**Just so you know, I consider myself as a somewhat romitri 'purist'. I despise reading about Rose with Adrian/Christian/someone else other than Dimitri just like the way I loathe reading about Dimitri with a woman who's not Rose (especially hate any Dimitri/Tasha stuff). It's always Rose with Dimitri and that's it. Nothing more, nothing less. I'm very narrow minded that way. So, have no fear of alternate pairings! :)**

**Thanks for reading and very sorry for any/all mistakes!**


	14. Blazing firestorm

**Millions of apologies for the late update! Truly, I'm sorry. I haven't forgotten about this story and I'm not abandoning it. But, I'm taking a little break till my exams are over. I spend way too much time reading stories on Wattpad these days and now that exams are close, I need to worry about curing that addiction. So, no time to write. But don't worry, the next update will be up around New Year, or so I hope :D **

**Thank you all for your support and patience. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)**

**DISCLAIMER: Plot-mine; Characters- Richelle Mead**

* * *

_I get jelaous,_

_I get mad,_

_I get worried, _

_I get curious,_

_That's only because I care..._

* * *

**Pilot astronaut Rose Hathaway**

_To let go,_ is a gift. A treasured, rare gift. The art of letting go isn't easy. It's not easily triggered, except for when faced with the enormity of the creation.

For, what is man when measured against nature?

Back on earth, I took nature for taken for granted. The grey skies, the swirling black rivers, the pungent fumes mixed with fresh drops of rain...everything.

But not here.

_Never here. _

The black ocean of nothingness doesn't let you forget.

My professor would always say, "Space is to place what eternity is to time". The words haunt me each time I stare out of the window of the spaceship. Each time I look, _observe_, take in the absolutely alien but strangely familiar surroundings.

You'd think this view of the endless black sea would get tiring after a while.

But no.

It's impossible to not marvel at it.

Each day I'm reminded that we were nothing.

Man is nothing.

Nothing against the distant sources of gas glowing against the darkness. Nothing compared to the myriad particles floating away, caught in an invisible tide, moving and moving without any particular destination.

What were my troubles when held up against this powerful universe?

I know that this line of thinking is dangerous. It's the first thing we astronauts are cautioned against.

_Do not lose sight of your goal._

And yet, it's nice to forget about it all for a while. Viela, cotopa, Sietera, Dimitri...

_Always Dimitri._

It's incredible how my head could be floating in the clouds but a mere mention of his name could ground me so firmly.

Crazy, really.

Did I even-?

I jumped, jarred out of my thoughts when a loud creaking noise filled the tiny alcove that had been my refuge for nearly two hours now.

It was the sound of a door being opened slowly.

Irritated at the thought of having company and losing some much needed private time, I watched warily as the door opened completely to reveal-

Adrian.

He emerged from the darkness of the fuel chamber, looking lost in thought.

It took a moment for him to register my presence.

When he did, he froze up, his emerald eyes filling with apprehension.

I felt my lips turned up into a slow smirk, my gloomy mood evaporating rapidly.

"Were you really checking the fuel stats?" I asked him innocently, resisting the urge to laugh when he gulped and eyed the exit. "Or were you looking for a possible hideout for your..._sexual escapades_?"

Adrian's face turned red, taking me back to yesterday evening when Dimitri and I had caught him in the corridor outside Tasha's room. I hadn't had a chance to say much then, partially because my mind was in a Dimitri-induced haze and partly because Dimitri didn't allow me much time to tease Adrian.

He may have chosen to stay with me but that man has always tried to control the damage my scheming could inflict.

But I was making up for it by teasing Adrian at any and every chance I got.

"Are you ever going to let this go?" Adrian asked me hopefully.

"Never." I declared, jumping down from my perch on the window sill.

Adrian sighed then turned serious as his emerald eyes locked with mine. He slowly took two steps closer, putting him right in front of me.

I narrowed my eyes, wondering what he was about to do.

"Little pilot," Adrian said in a low voice. "You can tease me as much as you want. But you know-you must know that Tasha means nothing to me."

"Of course," I chuckled lightly. "It's just hooking up, right?"

Adrian, unfortunately, didn't seem to grasp my joking. He looked pleased, grateful even.

"Why do you look relieved?" I asked him bluntly, ignoring the warning bells ringing in my head.

Adrian grinned lazily. "Just wanted to confirm. I can't have you thinking I like Tasha more than I actually do."

I frowned. "Why would you care? I mean, I know you've been trying to get into my pants since forever but that's not a problem anymore. You've got a girl to finally-ah, _satisfy_ your needs."

Adrian scowled, his cheerful mood evaporating instantly. "Come on, Rose. You must know that I don't want to just hook up with you."

"You don't?" I asked him, grinning madly. "That's a relief."

Adrian shook his head, looking put off. "That's not what I meant. Of course, I'd love nothing more than to spend an awesome night with you."

I punched his shoulder as his eyes turned dreamy.

"But my point is that I want more," Adrian told me firmly.

"You want to-what, date me?" I mocked but a voice at the back of my head told me that I might not like the answer.

To my great surprise, Adrian nodded. "Of course."

_Wait, what?_

I scoffed. "Since when are you the dating type?"

"I can be," Adrian said, lowering his voice and stepping uncomfortably closer. "I will be if you want me to be."

I immediately took a step back, freaked out by the look in his eyes.

I never expected this.

Adrian wasn't supposed to like me.

He couldn't.

I'd always figured that his flirting and all that extra attention he paid me was to achieve one goal - to get me to sleep with me. To think that his attention meant more, that he wanted more was too much to handle.

"Rose, I mean it." Adrian continued, moving closer as I moved backward instinctively. "I want you. In all possible ways. I will spend the rest of-"

"I suggest you step away from her right now, Adrian." Came a low, honey-like voice; gruff around the edges and firm in it's command.

My tiny niche suddenly seemed too small.

Dimitri...

_Sheesh! Get a grip, woman!_

Adrian turned to look at Dimitri who was leaning against the door, looking sinfully handsome with his arms folded over his chest.

_How much had he heard?_

But that didn't matter.

What mattered was the fire burning in those deep brown eyes.

Dimitri's face was set in a hard mask, his features betraying nothing. But I could detect the firm clench of his jaw, the stubborn set of his chin.

The stiffness of his shoulders.

He was _angry._

Fury rolled off him in waves, heating up the alcove.

"What's it to you?" Adrian asked him rudely.

I turned to glare at Adrian.

The fool didn't realize that he was digging his own grave.

_No one_ messed with Dimitri when he was so angry.

Well, no one but me.

Dimitri arched an eyebrow, his gaze deceptively cool but his body betrayed his irritation. When he spoke, his voice was so cold that I barely recognized it. "You're harassing her."

Adrian scoffed. "I repeat: what's it to you? You couldn't care less about her. You both fight like rabid dogs. It's quite clear that she _hates_ you!"

Something shifted in Dimitri's eyes then.

Something deep.

What Adrian said had struck a cord...

"How dare you?" I spoke in a low voice, barely repressing my anger. I clenched my fists as Adrian took a step away from me in shock, not expecting my reaction. "How dare you say that, Adrian? What happens between Dimitri and me is none of your business. It does _not_ concern you."

"But Rose-" Adrian protested.

I cut him off. "No! Don't say anything more. You crossed a line, Adrian. I haven't given you the freedom to form opinions on my behalf."

Adrian looked away in anger, his face set in a scowl.

"But know this," I said in a low voice, irritation lacing every syllable. "Dimitri is and will _always_ be my best friend. Nothing will change that or diminish his importance in my life."

Adrian took one look at my face and marched out of the door in anger.

It was only then that I realized that Dimitri had left.

I felt like someone had punched me in the chest. _The first blow..._

When did he leave?

Had he believed me when I said that he would always be my best friend?

Had he even listened to me?

I collapsed to sit on the floor when another thought struck me:_ Did Dimitri believe that he means nothing to me?  
_

* * *

Navigating a spacecraft through the heavens has been compared to sailing a ship on turbulent seas or driving a vehicle on rocky terrain.

It's difficult, period.

When embarking on such a journey, top level concentration is needed. Something I'm usually capable of.

But usually, I don't have a pissed off Dimitri close by.

Dealing with a furious Dimitri was a new experience for me and I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't quite know what to do.

Dimitri was rarely angry. Even when he was, it wasn't directed at me.

I've _never_ been on the receiving end of his wrath.

Ever.

Hell, I didn't even know why he was so angry.

Yes, I get that Adrian's comments must have stung but why is he directing that anger at me?

But I had to admit, I preferred to think that Dimitri was angry because of Adrian's words because I didn't want to entertain the possibility that he might be hurt by what Adrian had said.

That he really did believe that I hated him.

He didn't, couldn't, think like that, right?

He must know what he means to me...

Not knowing what to do or how to react, I simply pretended as though everything was fine, despite the clear indication of a storm brewing inside the man who meant more to me than anyone else.

I couldn't deal with this now...

"Everybody set?" I asked through the microphone attached to my collar, trying to focus on the task at hand.

When I heard the murmured assents through the speaker, I turned to Dimitri and nodded.

Dimitri's palm tightened over the left gear, the only acknowledgment that he'd seen my nod.

If he kept this up, he'd been in danger of having an encounter with my fist. I was confused by what I was feeling and frustrated because of his behavior. And hurt that he was ignoring me like this.

"Requesting manual control," Dimitri's deep voice murmured in my ear, through the headset that I was wearing.

"Manual control granted." came Mia's voice, sounding serious for once.

I took a deep breath as I gripped the main gear, adjusting the screen in front of me and checking the stats.

_Time to switch to professional mode, Rose. You have a job to do._

"On the count of three," I said, sparing a glance at my crew who were suited up in non-explanatory spacesuits like mine and were buckled up in their seats.

They looked nervous but that was to be expected.

We were setting off to a planet on which we had negligible data. But it was our best bet.

The planet _Ridhi,_ our destination, was the only planet besides Sietera that we knew about in the Ceres system. Sietera and Ridhi had been the only two planets in the entire Andromeda galaxy to have been visited by humans, centuries ago using a similar wormhole like ours. While the mission to Sietera had been successful, the exploration of Ridhi had not gone well. The astronauts who had visited the planet were never heard of again...

Using the initial data they'd transmitted, we were hoping that it would be a source of viela.

"Mia, a display of reference trajectory, please." I requested, squinting when the screen to my right lit up with the calculations.

"Christian," I called, knowing he'd understand what I wanted.

"I'm on it," he replied, verifying the trajectory calculation.

"Adrian, Tasha. Handle the orbit determination calculations," I ordered. "Mia, begin retraction procedure."

The _Klasana_ shuddered as Mia did as asked.

"Here we go then," I murmured. "Sit tight, guys."

"Bye, Sietera." Lissa said softly, straining her neck to look out of the window.

"It's up to you now, Mia." I said, leaning back on my seat.

"Trajectory programmed in," Mia said crisply. "Starting the engines. Beginning departure procedure."

The ship shuddered, as if bracing itself against a tsunami. Slowly, it rose up, inch by inch. As the ascend began, so did the stifling pressure associated with it.

I felt as if someone was pounding on my skull. My shoulders groaned, sagging under the pressure as a nauseous feeling took over my senses.

I couldn't breathe.

Flashes of light appeared before my closed eyes, the kind that made you dizzy. Or were they symptoms of dizziness?

Whatever it was, the entire exercise has always been pure torture.

But it was over quickly, fading off as abruptly as it had started.

And we were off.

_Headed towards the unknown..._

"Rose, take control!" Dimitri's command jerked me back to the task on hand.

"Right," I nodded, taking control of the gear. "The journey will take a while. Two days, tops. Why don't you all go and rest now?"

Before anyone could move, Dimitri was out of his seat.

He exited the Control Room before I could get another word out.

I winced as a door slammed shut, feeling as if he was shutting me out for good.

_The second blow..._

"That was-" Christian paused, shocked by Dimitri's unfamiliar behavior. "-unexpected."

"Don't you need him here?" Lissa asked me, gesturing to the controls.

_Yes, I do need him here, Liss. But not for steering the spacecraft._

I didn't say it out loud though. I simply shook my head. "No. It's pretty much straight-forward movement until we arrive at Ridhi."

"I'll check up on him," Tasha said, leaving the room before I could say anything.

_Shit! That was the third blow..._

Swallowing the heavy feeling that had nothing to do with hurtling through space in a metal box, I urged everyone to clear out so that I could be alone.

I needed to give myself a prep talk and concentrate on my work.

I just need to keep Dimitri out of my thoughts.

* * *

Easier said than done.

Once Mia and I managed to steer the spacecraft along the defined trajectory, I didn't have much work to do. The spacecraft was programmed to follow the trajectory and I only needed to take control after entering _Ridhi's_ environment.

Or, in case of unforeseen circumstances.

Lady luck had decided to side with us, however, and the Klasana managed to sail smoothly until we reached the exosphere of _Ridhi._

One by one, the crew marched back in.

Dimitri came in last, looking like he wanted to be anywhere but here.

I tried to ignore the hurt that came with the realization.

"Positions, everyone!" I ordered through the microphone, my voice hardening as I tried to control my emotions. "We'll be entering the atmosphere of planet Ridhi in about five minutes."

As the Klasana drew nearer to the dark golden planet of Ridhi, the tension in the control room went up by several notches.

My palms started sweating as my heart raced.

My mind conjured up horrific possibilities of bypassing Ridhi's atmosphere. We didn't have enough data, _dammit! _It was a touch and go situation, one we were forced into.

Who knew how hostile this planet could prove to be?

_Jeez, when did I get so pessimistic? _

Determined to not fall prey to the negativity poisoning my mind, I took a deep breath and pulled the gear, decreasing the velocity of the ship.

The gravitational pull of Ridhi may be too much or too little to pull the spacecraft forward. If I added more speed, the consequences would be disastrous.

"Brace yourself," I whispered to the crew, seconds before the Klasana pierced through outer atmosphere of Ridhi.

Wails rang throughout the ship the very moment we entered Ridhi.

I fumbled, nearly losing my grip on the gear in shock. For, stretching before me was a planet of _fire_, for lack of better words.

Everything seemed to be blazing. Distant peaks of what might be mountains smoked, their appearance a nasty brown and red. Sparkles flew right in front of the windshield. Soft golden winds blew over the planet, the air a dense mixture of red and gold.

All this I saw in a heartbeat, my mind quickly returning to the wails sounding throughout my ship.

The screen in front of me, right below the windshield lit up with bold red words emblazoned over them.

CAUTION: OVERHEAT

_Shit! Shit! Shit!_

"We need to cool down the ship!" I shouted, eyes scanning the far ground for a landing spot. "Go, go!"

"What do we do?" Lissa cried as Christian and Adrian stumbled away from the control room to fix the problem.

If it could be fixed.

"Use the reserve ammonia tanks!" I yelled, fighting to control the spacecraft. The gravity was too strong and we were careening towards the ground at breakneck speed. "Dimitri, Tasha. Go! Take the ammonia supplies and go to the Thermal Control Room. Christian will handle the rest. Go, Now!"

"Rose, I need to be here." Dimitri said firmly, his profile illuminated by the golden fire raging outside.

"No," I groaned, fighting to keep my eyes open in the harsh light. "I can do this. Christian needs you."

Dimitri hesitated.

"Damn it, Dimitri. I can handle it." I shouted, steering the ship to the side to avoid a smoking, volcanic mountain.

Dimitri nodded and gripped my shoulder quickly before leaving the room.

I tugged on the gear with all my strength, knowing that I needed to slow down the Klasana. "Lissa, take Dimitri's seat. Pull out the lower panel and press the red button!"

Lissa scrambled to do just that when the Klasana tilted, finally bowing down to my command. But I'd exerted too much force and as a result, the ship titled but slowed down.

Just as Lissa sighed in relief, the ship bucked and hit something solid to the right.

My heart stopped.

Lissa's scream echoed through the room as the ship groaned.

Snapping into action, I yanked the chair overhead and traded my gear for the double handed control. When I yanked on it, the ship aligned itself, coming to a grinding halt mid-air.

"Mia, initiate the landing procedure." I gritted out, eyes locked on the solid mass of land a few miles away.

More sparks hit the windshield, obstructing my visibility.

I couldn't allow it to deter me.

After what seemed like forever, Mia and I managed to land the Klasana on the solid ground of planet Ridhi.

The moment Mia announced a successful landing, I was out of my seat and running to the thermal control room, Lissa on my heels.

My crew was there.

_Shit! _I hope no one's hurt.

Throwing open the door, I barreled into the room - only to come to a screeching halt.

No, _no!_ This couldn't be happening...

Someone was on the ground, their head cradled in Tasha's lap. She was hysterical, shouting at Christian to do something while Adrian fumbled to pull out the first aid kit that we kept in every room.

The scene was exactly what I'd feared.

My worst fears had come true.

Someone was hurt.

Not just a someone but my best friend.

My best friend was hurt.

_Or worse._

* * *

**AN: So, what do you think? Adrian's hurtful words, Rose's reaction (if anyone notices, she says the exact sentence that Dimitri told Rose in Frostbite) and Dimitri's attitude. Poor guy, though. He's hurt, both physically and mentally. Will he make it? ;)**

**Mean cliffy, yes, but I'm sure you'll love the next chapter. Maybe a long pending kiss? :P**

**_Review_ and maybe you'll see some romitri time in the next chapter ;)**

**P.S: I'm sorry for the technical stuff included in the chapter but that's just my inner geek coming out. :D **

**I used to dream of being an astronaut before reality set in, sort of. I'm sure it's different in other countries but in India, especially the south, it's mostly Medicine or Engineering. Education is taken very seriously around here and everyone wants to be a doctor or an engineering. But it's not that my dreams are broken. I could have pursued Astronomy if I wanted it but fate intervened and I found myself studying computer engineering :D  
**


	15. Building bridges and more

**Hello! Happy new year 2016! May this year be whatever you wish it to be. ;) Also, I need to mention that it's been more than 3 years since I joined this fandom (join date- Dec 2012) and that I'm still very much caught up in romitri! If this isn't addiction, I don't know what is! :D  
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**I'd written this chapter a while ago but it wasn't ready to be posted yet. When I felt it was ready, I caught a horrible cold and wasted a few days of my vacation recovering so I couldn't update. Moreover, I didn't want to post an update while the reviews are not visible. I'd not even arranged to get email alert of the reviews so I'm in the dark regarding any and all feedback you lovely people have given me after 30th Jan :'(**

**I'll start replying to all the reviews of the previous chapter when I manage to get my coughing bout under control! So, let me just say it here - Thank you for the wonderful reviews, follows and favorites :p**

**Anyway, here's the new chapter and quite possibly my most favorite chapter till date. Enjoy :)**

**Just a small reminder to avoid confusion - astronauts strap themselves to their beds before falling asleep. This is the reason why Dimitri is strapped to a bed at the start of the chapter.**

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_Sometimes, two people have to fall apart to realize how much they need to fall back together._

-Unknown

* * *

**Mission Commander Rose Hathaway**

"Rose?" A deep, slightly raspy voice penetrated through the uneasy fog that seemed to have settled around me.

I blinked, confused to find myself in a stark white room.

"Rose?" the voice called again, weaker this time but more insistent.

_Dimitri?_

As my eyes locked with a pair of lighter ones of the same color, everything came crashing down on me. _Entering Ridhi, fire everywhere, Klasana out of control...and Dimitri? Passed out cold on the floor._

I let out a shaky breath as I fought against the recollection of that moment of panic when I'd found Dimitri unconscious- that moment of uncertainty, mind-numbing fear and cascading guilt.

"What happened?" Dimitri questioned, his voice betraying his exhaustion.

He made to sit up on the bed we'd strapped him to, in the room that doubled as infirmary of sorts and a storage for our oxygen tanks.

I watched him struggle to remove the straps holding him to the bed. Observing him quietly, I tried to battle against my emotions before silently pushing his hands away from the straps.

"You need to rest," I told him, careful not to meet his eyes.

"I don't need to be tied to the bed." He told me adamantly.

I could feel his eyes on me, his gaze starting a scorching fire under my skin. I felt the need to shy away, curl into myself to escape those eyes.

"Rose?" he called again, annoyed.

I stood up abruptly, chastising myself for staying back beside his bed. The others were in their rooms, soothed by Lissa's assurance that Dimitri would be fine.

She was the doctor, after all.

But I hadn't left. I had to make sure he was okay. I told myself that it was only to assuage my own guilt for having a role to play in his injury. Yes, it hadn't been deliberate. Far from it.

I'd been trying to save our lives.

But it had been my reckless steering that had knocked out Dimitri. The stupid oaf had volunteered to climb up the hatch and open the helium tank as I'd asked, despite knowing that Christian or Tasha - both lighter and lot less muscular than him- could probably have done the job better.

Now that Dimitri seemed to be fine, I wanted to get away from him as soon as possible.

"Look," I said, staring at a point just next to his head. I couldn't, couldn't look him in the eye. I needed to reign in my emotions and that wouldn't happen if I let myself get trapped in those dark orbs. "You need to rest. So-" I shrugged, lost for words. "-just rest, okay."

When I made to move away, I found myself unable to. Because Dimitri's hand had shot out and was now latched onto mine, preventing me from moving.

I faced away from him, shaking my head as my eyes burned. "Let go, Dimitri."

When and how he'd freed himself of the straps, I didn't know. But he was _Dimitri Belikov_. Of course, he couldn't be restrained.

He tugged at my hand again, pulling me back towards him.

"Rose?" he called softly, turning me around to face him. But I kept my eyes shut. "Look at me, please?"

I shook my head, tears pooling within my closed lids. I couldn't look at him, no matter how much I tried. I couldn't face the enormity of my feelings at the moment.

All I'd wanted was a reassurance that he was okay. Now that I knew he was, I wanted to lock myself in my room and not come out until I could handle whatever it was that I was feeling.

"You don't get to do this, Rose." Dimitri's voice was gruff with a hint of warning in it. "You don't get to shut me out."

My eyes flew open, anger burning through my veins. "I don't get to shut you out?" I asked, my voice shaky. "What about you, huh? You get to do that?"

Dimitri arched an eyebrow, silently appraising me.

His lack of answer enraged me further. I pushed his hands away from my shoulder before retorting, "Don't give that look, comrade. You need to answer me."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Again in that maddeningly calm voice.

"I knew you'd say that," I said caustically, lips curling into a mocking smile. "It was a toss up between that and _'__t__here's nothing to talk about_.'"

Dimitri's jaw clenched, a visible effort to restrain his temper.

But I wasn't having any of that.

"Let me spell it out for you," I walked forward until I was right in front of him. "You've been treating me with nothing but anger and disdain throughout the day and now you have the nerve to tell me that I don't get to shut you out?"

I did it.

I lit the match and now, Dimitri's temper was ignited.

Which was never a good thing. But what did I care? I wanted answers and I wouldn't stop until I got them.

"What do you want me to say, Rose? Dimitri spoke through gritted teeth, eyes narrowing as they focused on me. "Yes, I was angry. I will not deny it. But it has nothing to do with you."

I laughed incredulously. "No? Then why was I at the receiving end of your silent treatment?"

"Why does that bother you, Rose?" Dimitri's voice rose up a notch as he walked closer, standing right in front of me. "Why should that bother you? After all, we're not friends. You hate me, don't you?"

That stopped me.

My righteous anger crashed down and washed away in an instant as I took in the hurt pooling in Dimitri's gorgeous eyes.

He was repeating Adrian's words from earlier.

He actually believed it. He believed that I hated him.

My shoulders sagged in defeat, unable to comprehend my next move. I opened my mouth but nothing came out.

It should have been simple, really.

I just had to tell Dimitri the truth.

But nothing about us has been simple lately.

I dragged my fingers through my hair roughly, breathing in shakily. "If you believe that, you're a bigger fool than I imagined."

Wrong words. Simple words that did not convey the depth of his importance in my life. But that was all I could manage.

To my great surprise, Dimitri chuckled, albeit a little sarcastically. "Jokes again, Rose? Even now?"

I shook my head, smiling despite myself. "I mean it, Dimitri. If you really believe that I hate you, then there's no bigger fool in the entire god damned universe."

Dimitri smiled slightly before sitting down on the bed. Slowly, I moved to sit beside him.

We were both silent for a while before Dimitri whispered, "I don't know what to believe, _Roza_."

I sighed, knowing that I was responsible for this mess. "That's my fault, I know. I want to fix it, Dimitri. Tell me how to fix this. Us."

Finally, the words that I'd wanted to say for so long were spilling out of me. I wanted so badly to fix our friendship. I couldn't go on like this, pretending to hate Dimitri and keeping him at arm's distance. I wanted him back. I wanted _us_ back. If that was even possible...

Dimitri stood up, walking over to the only window in the room.

I watched him silently, knowing that I had to give him space. He'd talk when he was ready.

But I couldn't sit still.

This moment was be the defining moment for us. His answer had the power to either set me free or throw me down the metaphorical cliff.

Everything rested on this moment.

Unable to wait anymore, I strode over to where he stood looking out into the inky black nothingness.

Dimitri's shoulders were stiff, his body crackling with tension that rose up when he sensed me behind him.

"I don't know if I can do this, Rose." He admitted softly, facing away from me.

I flinched, unable to help the feeling of disappointment and hurt. But what else had I expected? That he'd forgive me in an instant and we could just go back to the way things had been ages ago?

No.

Too many years had passed. Too many things had gotten between us.

What I should be is _thankful._ I should be thankful that he wasn't saying that he didn't want to be friends. He wasn't saying that he hated me.

More than anything, I should be thankful that despite the distance between us, we were still in each others' lives.

"I..." Dimitri hesitated, turning to face me. His eyes widened in surprise and pain when he looked at me properly. I don't know what he saw on my face- maybe he saw everything that I was feeling. I was too...exhausted to put on a mask. But more importantly, Dimitri could always see through any facade I'd use to hide from the world.

In that silent, wordless way that we had of communicating with each other, I asked him to continue.

"I hate this," he admitted, his face betraying his inner conflict. "I just want to forget the past, Rose but I'm not able to."

I nodded but one tear fell from my eye.

Slowly, Dimitri raised his hand to wipe it away, his eyes tormented. "_Roza..._"

"You're not wrong, Dimitri." I assured him quietly, the warmth from his fingertips calming the storm within me. "You have every right to feel that way."

"You hurt me so much, _Ro__za__._" He confessed softly, the words leaving his lips without his permission. "I tried so hard to save our friendship. But you pushed me away, time and again."

"I did," I acknowledged, turning away from him to look out of the window. My surroundings blurred as my eyes filled with more tears, a simple sign of the agony I was going through.

I'd pushed him away. In my jealousy and insecurity, I'd pushed away the one person who meant more to me than anyone else. I'd been convinced that he was happier without me, that he didn't need me anymore. I hadn't been able to stomach it. The sight of him laughing and joking with his friends without a care in the world had been too much for me.

It had felt like he'd replaced me.

That wasn't something I could swallow. Growing up, Dimitri had been my constant, the only one whose love I was assured of. I knew my mother had never loved me and my father- well, he'd never been around until later. It had always been the Belikovs who were my family. More so, it was Dimitri Belikov.

But that assurance had shattered when I met him again at the J.S.A. Yes, we'd been living separate lives till then but we never lost touch. There was always an assurance that he was out there. That he missed me as much as I missed him.

But seeing him with Christian and Ivan...especially Ivan, I'd been struck with the feeling that I meant nothing to him anymore. Just a girl from his past whom he'd once cared about.

So, in an attempt to protect myself, I'd distanced myself from him. My pride took the reigns, alienating me from him. All I thought was - If he didn't want me, I sure as hell wouldn't cling on to him.

It was madness.

I'd been caught in a storm of insecurity and pride which is a dreadful combination.

A wrecking combination.

But my actions had felt right at that time.

Until I met Lissa.

She was my saving grace in more ways than one and finally, I'd realized that I'd destroyed my friendship with Dimitri.

My pride had indeed been my downfall.

I knew Dimitri was aware of all this. He always knew what I felt and why I did things the way I did. He'd tried, time and again, to reconcile with me but it had been too late.

Blinking out of my memories, I focused on Dimitri whose thumb was lightly rubbing circles on my cheek.

"I'm sorry." was all I could muster. But those words contained everything that I wanted to say and more.

Our eyes locked together and a thousand messages flowed back and forth through our bond that was almost tangible.

"I know," Dimitri admitted softly. "Rose, I know you're sorry. But-"

"But it's too late now," I finished, smiling sadly.

Dimitri wiped away the fresh tears that escaped my eyes.

"No." He leaned his forehead against mine, his eyes swimming with oh, so many emotions. "I don't want to believe that it's too late. I can't...I've never been able to let you go, _Roza._"

"And I, you." I whispered through the tears, gently tucking the strands of his hair behind his ear.

Dimitri watched me tenderly, the look in his eyes warming me against the cold realization that we'd reached an impasse.

We wanted to move forward but how?

I laughed softly when Dimitri gently bumped his forehead against mine. "We'll figure it out."

"We will," I repeated as I leaned into his hand that was cupping my cheek.

We stayed that way for what felt like eternity, just basking in the comfort that we wanted to mend the bridges between us.

But gradually, the atmosphere between us changed, the peaceful calmness turning into a heart-throbbing tension that made it difficult to breathe.

From some time now, there had been a weird sort of tension between Dimitri and I, usually dispelled by jokes and heightened by our near constant bickering. So, I wasn't surprised when I started to feel a little light-headed by Dimitri's closeness, his warmth, his scent...

I'd already accepted that I had a massive crush on Dimitri. Maybe even...no, don't go there. But why did he look just as affected as I felt?

Dimitri's dark eyes filled with a soft light as he slowly moved his thumb across my bottom lip; the soft light intensifying into something hungry, something unknown.

His touch burned against my skin, my heart pounding in response. My breath came out shakily when his face neared mine.

He was so close that I could see the each detail of his perfect face and the tiny imperfections that made him all that much more gorgeous. I could see the flecks of gold in those dark brown eyes.

Eyes that were burning at the moment.

I don't know when it happened. One moment, we were still, suspended in time - drinking in each others' presence. The next moment, we were locked together in a kiss that I'd only ever dreamed about.

I'd always thought kissing was overrated, that people simply exaggerated their feelings when they kissed someone they wanted.

But now I knew. I knew what it was like to have that _one perfect kiss._

One perfect kiss with the only one I've ever wanted.

The kiss started out slow but it soon became clear that neither of us was going to pull away. Why, I didn't know. We should have pulled away. We had to repair our friendship before we went further...

But those arguments never translated themselves into words. For, words required me to detach myself from Dimitri and that wasn't something I was ready to do.

Dimitri's hand came up to cup my chin, the other sliding around me to bring me flush against him as our lips molded together in a perfect rhythm. Electricity spread through my body, the hot static stimulating each cell and spreading through every pore. It was as if a thousand, no, a million firecrackers had exploded in the pit of my stomach. I felt so energetic but so light, like if I'd float away if Dimitri loosened his grip on me.

If I knew that this was what I'd been missing out on, I'd have kissed Dimitri a long, long ago.

As if he too was thinking the same thing, Dimitri smiled against my lips before slowly, reluctantly pulling away.

I felt breathless, as if I'd run a marathon. My heart raced as I took in his expression and the fire still burning in his molten brown eyes.

Before I could say something, anything, Dimitri spoke. His voice was husky and laced with that soft accent that never failed to make me shiver.

"_Ro__za_," he breathed, still holding me close. "I know how we can fix everything between us."

I drew back, inhaling sharply. "What are you saying?" I questioned breathlessly.

Dimitri smirked, removing his arms from around me to cross it over his chest. If it wasn't for the words he'd just spoken, I'd have been disappointed at how quickly he'd gotten away from me.

Gracefully, Dimitri leaned against the wall, the movement so lithe, so sexy that it made me want to kiss him again. But there were bigger things to worry about.

Like the fact that Dimitri's eyes were swirling with mischief.

"You pushed me away," Dimitri began, eyes warning me not to interrupt him. "You broke us apart so it will be you who will patch things up."

"Okay..." I gestured for him to continue.

"Are you ready to do that, _Roza_?" Dimitri asked me, the mischief in his eyes receding a little. "Are you ready to do what it takes to fix things?"

I nodded wordlessly. I was responsible for this mess and I was more than willing to fix it.

Dimitri's expression turned serious. "I need to know that you want this-" he indicated the space between us "-as much as I do. So, if you want my forgiveness, you have to complete four tasks for me. Without any questions. Are you ready to do that?"

I nodded again, wondering what I'd gotten myself into. But whatever it was, I would do it.

I would do anything to get Dimitri back.

* * *

**AN: Soo...that happened. Originally, I didn't want to let them have their first kiss in the middle of working out the kinks in their friendship. I'd wanted this chapter to be only about patching up their friendship but then I thought - people end up saying or doing something that shouldn't be done in a particular situation. Best illustration of this are the various romitri moments throughout the books. They were supposed to be doing something but ended up doing something else that might complicate the situation further. I hope I'm not confusing you even more. All I mean is that, Rose and Dimitri know that they have to sort out their relationship but they got caught up in the moment and kissed. The kiss complicates an already complicated situation!**

**If you don't get it, just forget I even mentioned any of this :p **

**So, what do you think about the fact that Dimitri is giving Rose four tasks to prove herself to him, to make him believe that she wants to fix things between them. Yes, Rose agreed readily because she knows she screwed up and takes responsibility for it. What you do think the tasks will be? ;)**

**_Review_ and let me know what you think about this chapter and the much awaited romitri kiss :D**


	16. Escalating attraction

**Hello! ****Sorry for the late update. Since a vast majority of you read Embers in the Snow, you'll know that I've explained my reasons there. For others, all I want to say is that I'm sorry. I can't update frequently as I'm in the last semester of my Engineering and it's damn hectic :'(**

**Anyway, thanks a lot for the reviews, follows and favorites! A lot of you are wondering about the tasks that Dimitri gave Rose. There's no need to worry, though. Dimitri only wants whats best for Rose so the tasks will be such :p**

**This chapter, unfortunately, is not a task but I had a lot of fun writing it. Hope you like it as well :)**

**Small note: I've changed the story name from 'An astereal love' to 'An asterial love' and my username is changed to "Fiera-Rain-Hathaway" :)**

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_You are my best friend_

_My shoulder to lean on, t__he one person I know I can count on_

_You're the love of my life, y__ou're my one and only_

_You are my everything_

_~Unknown_

* * *

_**A snippet of the past...**_

A chubby, bespectacled seven year old girl called Mindy stood with her arms crossed, her beady eyes glaring down at the assembled bunch of her classmates.

Eddie gulped under her gaze while several others fidgeted. Dimitri was looking around, trying not to meet Mindy's gaze. He didn't want to be here, none of them did. Unfortunately for them, their teacher had split the entire class into groups and had appointed the leaders of each group.

Mindy was the head of the little motley group that consisted of Rose, Dimitri and several others.

Sweeping her eyes over others, Mindy's gaze rested on Rose for the longest, perhaps under the misconception that being the youngest would mean Rose would be the first to bend to her rules.

Poor Mindy.

She was a newcomer and hence, she didn't know what crossing Rose would mean for her.

Rose, on her part, looked bored but met Mindy's gaze squarely, her lips curving up in a challenge.

Pursing her mouth, Mindy screeched, perhaps for the eleventh time, "We're playing house and that's it!"

Rose rolled her eyes. "Aren't we too old for that?"

Mindy narrowed her eyes at Rose. "No one is ever too old to play house."

"Seven is too old," Eddie said quietly.

"Is not!" Mindy said petulantly. "I'll decide who plays what."

The group groaned silently.

"You, little missy," Mindy marched over to Rose and pointed a finger at her. "You will be the servant."

"Yes, Your Highness!" Rose mocked.

Dimitri, who had not said or done anything so far, gripped Rose's hand tightly, warning her to not push Mindy. They were already suffering enough...

Catching sight of Rose and Dimitri's interlocked hands, Mindy huffed. "You will be my husband, Dimitri. Stop holding hands with the servant."

"Aw," Rose pouted. "I'm so sorry, Mindy. Looks like your _husband_ likes the servant more than you."

The group laughed, all of them happy to see Mindy put down by Rose. From the time she'd arrived, Mindy had started bossing over them all. She was a bully, trampling over anyone who stood in her way.

Everyone, except the teachers, despised Mindy.

Unfortunately for them, Mindy had so far not crossed paths with Rose.

Before today.

The others couldn't wait to see Rose bring down Mindy.

Rose was the only one who would stand against her. Dimitri was capable of doing so but he was usually one to mind his own business. But their classmates knew that Dimitri would be involved if Rose and Mindy happened to clash.

Oh, they were clashing now, alright.

Rose, with the might of the entire class behind her, smirked when Mindy stamped her foot, furious that Rose wasn't bowing down to her.

"Enough of this," Mindy spat. "You, servant girl, are married. To Eddie."

Eddie gulped when Dimitri shot him a look, warning him to stay away. Eddie knew that neither Rose nor Dimitri tolerated the other being paired with someone else, so he stood quietly.

"Because you're married," Mindy carried on smugly. "You cannot hold hands with my husband."

She tried to latch onto Dimitri's arm but he stepped away.

"Dimitri?" Mindy pouted as Rose smothered a laugh. "You're supposed to hold _my_ hand. _We_ are married. Rose should go with Eddie."

"Rose is not going anywhere," Dimitri said, his voice carrying a tone of finality. He was done with listening to Mindy. "If you force us to play house, then Rose stays with me."

"That cannot happen!" Mindy screeched. "Eddie, pull Rose away from him."

Eddie didn't know what to do. On one hand, Mindy was scary but on the other, he was Rose and Dimitri's friend. Everyone knew what would happen if you ever tried to get between Rose and Dimitri.

But Mindy, apparently, did not.

"I said, Rose is not going anywhere," Dimitri proceeded to pull Rose behind him, her hand secure in his. Rose went without resisting, knowing that Dimitri would handle everything. "She's not going to be Eddie's wife and I am not going to be your husband. You can't separate us."

"Watch me," Mindy threatened and walked over to their teacher.

Dimitri turned to Rose. "I'll sort it out."

Rose nodded, watching Dimitri interrupt Mindy and say something to their teacher.

"I think I'll end up being Mindy's husband," Eddie said, grimacing.

"Better you than Dimitri," Rose said, shrugging.

Jade, another one of their classmates, remarked: "She shouldn't have tried to split you and Dimitri. Everyone knows the rules!"

"She shouldn't have," Rose agreed. "But don't worry. I'll teach her a lesson. She won't be bullying anyone ever again."

"Please do," John begged. "We'll all help you."

Rose grinned, already planning a prank to 'educate' Mindy. Knowing she had to convince Dimitri before she could do anything, she smiled sweetly when Dimitri came back to them.

"We're playing football," he informed the group before narrowing his eyes at Rose who was still smiling widely.

As the group marched over to the football court, Dimitri pulled Rose away to look her in the eye. "What are you planning, Roza?"

"A small surprise for Mindy," Rose replied gleefully. "It's going to be so much fun!"

Before Dimitri could say anything, Rose clapped her hand over his mouth. "Don't say no, Mitya! Please! Please, please, please!"

Dimitri removed her hand from his mouth but didn't let go. "Okay. Only because it's Mindy."

"Only because she tried to have marry you in the game," Rose noted, giggling.

"And because she tried to marry you off to Eddie," Dimitri pointed out.

Rose shrugged, "It wouldn't have been so bad for me. You would've had it worse."

Dimitri huffed. "You're okay with being Eddie's wife?"

"Maybe," Rose retorted. "But I'm not okay with you being Mindy's husband."

"I'm not okay with either of them," Dimitri said, crossing his arms. "You'll stay with me and only me. Got it?"

"Yes, boss!" Rose grinned, pulling Dimitri into a brief hug. "I'll stay with you and only you. Now let's go and join the game."

* * *

**Present time: The Klasana**

**Mission Commander Rose Hathaway POV**

"Wakey, wakey, Rose!" A voice chimed, ringing throughout my room and successfully waking me up.

Glaring at the walls, I rubbed sleep from my eyes. But I made no move to unstrap myself from my bed. It was plenty comfortable and I just wanted to stay like this forever, minus the annoying voice of course.

Just as I was about to go back to sleep, the same voice screeched again: "Rose! Time to get up, up, up!"

"Shut it, Mia." I grumbled, throwing my arms over my ears.

There was glorious silence for a minute.

"How did you know it was me?" Mia asked, sounding puzzled. "I modulated my voice."

I scowled. "Who else screams through the walls, Mia?"

"Good point," Mia said, sounding smug. "No one has that much power. No one except me."

Realizing that Mia would never let me go back to sleep, I unstrapped myself and stood up. "Spare me, oh powerful one."

Mia's high pitched laugh made me want to throttle her. Sadly, she had no physical manifestation.

A shame, really.

Grumbling at being woken up so rudely, I made my way to the kitchen, desperate to have some food. My steps were unsteady, my brain foggy as it battled sleep.

It took me three tries to open the kitchen door but when I did, I stopped short at the sight that met my eyes.

My crew was seated at the dining table. Lissa and Christian sat with their heads close together, whispering back and forth. Adrian sat by himself, staring moodily at his bowl.

But what really got on my nerves were the other two people with them.

Dimitri and Tasha mimicked Lissa and Christian's pose, their heads close together as they studied a document.

For a moment, I forget about everyone else, my focus centered on my best friend with whom I'd shared a hot kiss the previous day and the woman who had a massive crush on the said best friend.

As I watched, Tasha jabbed a finger at the paper, whispering something to Dimitri who shook his head. Then, he grasped Tasha's hand and moved it so that her finger was now pointing to a different part of the paper.

I clenched my fists as irrational jealously burned in my veins. Granted, Dimitri did remove his hand from Tasha's but I wanted to march up to them and pull them apart and tear Tasha's long, raven mane and punch Dimitri till-

"Good morning, Rose!" Lissa's cheerful voice broke my violent, wistful imagination.

I nodded, fixing my eyes on my blond best friend as I walked over to the table. Not once did I glance at _him _or Tasha.

But his eyes were on me.

The second Lissa had announced my presence, I could feel his gaze on me, scorching my skin.

Running a hand through my hair, I vaguely wondered if I even looked presentable. I had just stumbled out of bed, after all.

But did I care?

No. Not when _he_ was busy cosying up to Tasha.

'_Calm down, Rose.'_ I chanted to myself as I moved towards the the only vacant chair at the table - that was conveniently placed between Tasha and Adrian. Cursing my luck, I plopped down, determined not to let_ him_ know how much his current proximity to Tasha was bothering me.

"I thought I'd have to come downstairs to wake you up," Lissa said as she passed me the breakfast tray.

I busied myself with unstrapping the Velcro bindings that separated me from my food.

"Spaghetti, huh?" I murmured as I squeezed hot water from the water bag into the spaghetti packet. Waiting for it to be ready, I looked at Lissa to find her already staring at me.

"What?" I asked, smoothing my hair self-consciously. It probably looked like a raven had died on top of my head.

"Lissa wants to know how you managed to wake up on your own, Captain." Christian asked, twisting the last word mockingly.

I rolled my eyes, aware that I had the attention of the entire table. But it was only a pair of dark brown eyes that bothered me.

I couldn't even bring myself to acknowledge _his_ presence.

"I wasn't aware that Lissa can't speak for herself," I said, narrowing my eyes at Christian. "Now, if you don't have any more silly questions to bother me with, I'd like to have my breakfast."

Christian held up his hands. "I wouldn't dare come between you and your breakfast."

Lissa giggled as I scoffed, digging into my breakfast now that it had absorbed the water. From the corner of my eye, I saw Tasha smile in amusement before turning to whisper something in _his_ ear.

I gripped the plastic fork tightly, my hunger evaporating in an instant. Rather, I felt nauseous.

Why were they sitting so close?

Was Dimitri just toying with me?

No.

He wouldn't.

I couldn't let my paranoia rule me again. I messed things up the first time because of my insecurity.

I had to give him the benefit of doubt.

But it was a hard thing to do, what with the way he was smiling and laughing with Tasha.

"Easy, tiger." Adrian's voice whispered from my right. "What has the poor fork done to you?"

Chastising myself for being so far gone that I'd even momentarily forgotten Adrian's presence next to me, I loosened my grip on the fork and used it to scoop some spaghetti into my mouth.

Adrian was at my right.

Tasha at my left.

Huh.

Smirking, I leaned towards Adrian and whispered, "You want to switch seats with me?"

Adrian's emerald eyes widened, perhaps in shock that I was actually speaking to him after everything that had happened between us. It took him few seconds to understand what I was saying.

"Not nice, Hathaway." He grumbled, eyes darting between Tasha and I. Finally, he'd understood that I was teasing him with Tasha. "But-" he hesitated, "-does this mean that you've forgiven me?"

I shrugged carelessly. It was true that I'd forgiven him. Yes, I didn't appreciate the way he spoke to Dimitri but he'd done so only because of his feelings for me. While I wished that he'd just snap out of it, I didn't, couldn't, hold it against him. He just had to understand that I would never reciprocate his feelings.

"You know," I started again, aware that no one else could listen to us. "You don't have to keep your hook-ups a secret anymore. Christian might already have guessed it so only Lissa is in the dark."

Adrian paused, then nodded before asking seriously, "Even Agent Boring Borscht knows?"

I choked on the spaghetti, coughing several times to regain my breath. But when I did, I burst out laughing at the look on Adrian's face.

All conversation ceased.

Everyone's eyes were now fixed on me.

Even_ his._

But I couldn't stop laughing.

Clutching my stomach, I gripped the table as I hunched over, laughing uncontrollably. I didn't know why I was finding Adrian's expression funny but I was. It was freaking hilarious!

When my laughing fit reduced, I turned to Adrian and gasped, "Don't ever do that again."

Adrian grinned crookedly, sweeping his imaginary hat to me.

"What's so funny?" Lissa asked with a smile. "What did Adrian do?"

"The usual," I shrugged, grinning. "Adrian was just being Adrian."

"You mean, he was providing comic relief?" Christian retorted.

I smirked, "Isn't that his job, Christian?"

"You're full of compliments today, aren't you, little pilot?" Adrian said rhetorically as Christian reached over for a high-five. When the attention shifted away from us, Adrian leaned closer and whispered, "I'm not sure your partner likes our proximity."

"He can go to hell," I said glibly.

Adrian's features filled with realization. "Are you jealous, little Pilot?"

"I'm not," I said through gritted teeth. "I-"

"Rose, Adrian?" Christian called, raising his eyebrow at us. "Is there something you want to share with the rest of us?"

"I don't know, you tell me." I shot back. "You and Lissa have been discussing something for a _long_ time."

"Real long time," Adrian added.

Lissa blushed while Christian smirked, "I have no problem telling-"

He was cut off by Lissa nudging him. "Don't mind him, Rose. He's just trying to get on your nerves."

"What else is new?" I sighed, standing up from the table. "Alright, listen up. We can't afford to spend more time on Ridhi. Our engines will gradually fail and_ the Klasana _itself may melt. We can't waste our resources here. So, the first thing we have to do is exit the exosphere of Ridhi. Then, we try to arrange a consultation with the Earth Center and figure out the next course of action. For now, I want you all to prepare the ship for departure. Okay?"

"Yes, Rose."

"Of course, Captain."

I nodded and left the room, anxiety bubbling at the pit of my stomach. So much was happening, so much that I could barely keep up. In midst of all this was Dimitri and my mad desire to patch things up between us.

Was this the right time for it?

But I trusted Dimitri. He'd never have given me the tasks if it wasn't the right time.

Stranded in space, thousands of light years away from home, there was a high chance that we wouldn't live to see the next day. Each day was a blessing. When this was the case, did I really want my life to end without the most important person in my life knowing how much he meant to me?

No.

But he sure seemed to have no problem distancing me. Was I being paranoid again? But I'd love to hear what he thought about Tasha. Yes, he'd said he didn't like her in that way but...Were they really just friends?

She wanted him, that was clear enough. But did-

I was shaken out of my thoughts by a warm hand closing around my arm and pushing me against the wall.

_Dimitri._

I'd been so lost in thought that I hadn't heard him approach. I'd not even realized that I'd been walking towards my lab.

I was really out of it.

But now, Dimitri had me cornered, trapped against the wall in the narrow corridor outside the lab.

It reminded me of that day when we had been arguing in the lab. He'd trapped me against the wall then, similar to the way he was holding me now.

But as much as I liked our current position, I was still miffed at him.

"What?" I asked him sharply when he frowned at me.

Why was _he_ mad?

He didn't say anything for a moment, just studied me silently. Disapprovingly.

His arms locked me in, confining me between the wall and his warm, lean form. His face was close to mine and I battled against the desire rapidly spreading through my body.

After our confrontation yesterday, I was finding it harder and harder to keep my hands off him.

"I should be asking you that," he said cryptically, an annoyed expression on his face.

"You should be asking me what?" I asked, confused.

"Yes," Dimitri said through clenched teeth. "What was that with Adrian?"

Oh. So, that was what this was about.

Was he...maybe, jealous?

"What was what with Adrian?" I asked innocently, deliberately riling him up. I'd love to hear him actually confess his jealousy.

"Rose," he growled, the vibrations from his body echoing through mine.

'_No, Rose. Concentrate._ _You were angry, remember?'_

Yes. Damn his confession. He had a lot of explaining to do.

"Anything I did or did not do with Adrian-" I said slowly, keeping my eyes on his dark, magnetic ones. "-was nothing like whatever you were doing with Tasha."

"What are you talking about?" Dimitri asked, clearly baffled by my twisted sentence.

"Whatever it is that you are talking about," I retorted, suppressing a smirk. Yes, I was giving him a hard time but he deserved it.

At least, some of it.

"I'm not playing games here, Rose." Dimitri's eyes burned into mine accusingly. "Adrian has feelings for you and you know it."

"Yes, I do." I said shortly. "So what?"

"So what?" Dimitri's voice pitched lower. "You're really asking me that, Rose?"

"Yes, I am." I said stubbornly. "So what if he has feelings for me? It's not like _I_ have feelings for him!"

"I want you to tell him the truth," Dimitri retorted adamantly, pressing me back against the wall. "Tell him you don't reciprocate his feelings."

"He knows, okay?" I exclaimed, my hands falling to Dimitri's broad chest in an effort to push him off. But he didn't budge. Rather, he pushed closer to me so that I couldn't remove my hands from his chest. The smell of his aftershave was making my head spin, which made me even more mad. Couldn't I just argue with him without my damn feelings getting in the way?

"Adrian knows that I don't like him," I continued, frustrated with myself. "Quit lecturing me about him. If anything, I'm the one who has the right to be angry here."

Dimitri's forehead furrowed in contemplation. "Why?"

"You're really asking me that?" I repeated his words from earlier.

"Stop talking in riddles." Dimitri demanded.

"Oh, sure." I dragged out the last word mockingly. "Let me spell it out for you. You were _flirting _with Tasha. That clear enough for you?"

"I was not," was his immediate reply.

"Comrade," I warned.

"I was not, _Roza_." Dimitri's eyes were honest. He really did believe that he'd done nothing wrong. So I made a wrong assumptions, again?

"I was just talking to her," he continued. "You know that she's a good friend."

"A good friend that has feelings for you," I pointed out, feeling drained.

I just wanted to stop arguing but he needed to understand this mess first.

"She'll interpret your niceness as flirting, Mitya." My exhaustion made me slip into using that old nickname but I carried on, determined to finish this. "Anyone will, especially someone like Tasha. You know how she is. You may see her as a friend but for her, every nice word from you will only serve to increase her hopes. You need to draw a line between you two or you'll end up hurting her."

Dimitri's eyes were filled with remorse. "I didn't think of it like that. I didn't want to stop talking to her just because of some delusions she harbors-"

"-more like fantasies," I interrupted, snickering when he grimaced.

"I thought she'd see it as a sign of friendship," he said, his eyes distant.

I raised her hand to caress his cheek.

It was honestly irritating that Tasha liked Dimitri and Adrian seemed to think that he had feelings for me. Yeah, it was human nature and all that. But couldn't they just leave us alone?

But they were our friends. They were good people. I just wished that they'd end up liking each other. They were hooking up, after all.

"What are you thinking about?" Dimitri asked softly as my index finger traced over his cheekbone.

"I was thinking how nice it'll be if Adrian and Tasha end up together," I confessed.

Dimitri chuckled. "It's still against the rules."

"We'll see about that." But before he could question me, I placed my finger on his lips. "Don't ask. Let me take care of it. You just have to talk to Tasha."

"I'm not looking forward to it," he said, pressing a kiss to my finger. "Don't forget to clear things up with Adrian."

"Jealous?" I teased, wondering if Adrian already suspected that something was going on between Dimitri and I.

"I'm not jealous," Dimitri scoffed.

When I laughed, he leaned forward to whisper in my ear, "Don't pretend like you were not."

It was my turn to scoff. "I'm not confirming or denying anything. You actually held her hand in yours and-"

"-only to point out the viela concentration," Dimitri said defensively. "I let go immediately."

"Point is," I emphasized, glaring at him. "_You held her hand._"

Dimitri's full lips stretched up in a roguish grin. "You look cute when you're jealous."

"I'm not-"

I was cut off by Dimitri's mouth on mine.

His lips brushed over mine and for once, there were no words between us. No arguments, no accusations...just the bliss of being so close together. Savoring the moment, I put my arms around his neck, needing him closer. He cupped the side of my face, his thumb tracing abstract patterns on my cheek while his other arm rested on my hip. This attraction was new, the experience fresh but I still felt like we'd been doing this forever. As if there we were always meant to be...

As the intensity of our kiss picked up, Dimitri's hand trailed lower and lower until he pulled my leg up to wrap around his waist. Moaning quietly, I maneuvered myself so that my other leg also encircled his waist, allowing me to press myself closer to him. I couldn't stop, didn't want to stop but I knew we had to.

Before someone would find us like this.

"_Roza..._" Dimitri groaned, breaking the kiss moments later. I leaned back against the wall, trying to regain my breath as Dimitri swept my hair away from my forehead, pressing a light kiss there.

"Talk to Tasha," I reminded him when I could speak.

Dimitri chuckled under his breath, slowly untangling himself from me. "I will. But Rose?"

"Hm?"

"There's always been only one woman for me."

* * *

**AN: "There's always been only one woman for me" Aw! *sigh!* I love romitri 3**

**Anyway, if you missed the first line of the chapter - Rose and Dimitri are seven (Technically Rose is six but everyone else is seven)**

**Also, Adrian referred to Dimitri as Rose's partner because they often work together. But who knows what he suspects? :p**

**So, how was the chapter? Rose and Dimitri's jealousy? Is Rose right in asking Dimitri to talk to Tasha? _Let me know with a review :)_**

**For all those who are still reading the story, I just want to say a huge, heartfelt thank you! Though this story is not as popular as 'Embers in the Snow', I love it as much, perhaps even more. Writing this is usually a smooth process whereas Embers is a lot of work these days, what with the reconstruction and rewriting that I've assigned to myself. Oh well! If you were planning on reading that story, wait for a week until I'm done editing. **

**Waiting for your reviews ;)**


	17. Stranded

**Trust me, you don't want to know my mile long list of reasons for not updating. I hope I'm back for good but it's hard to tell. The past few months have been mental and I'm sure this chapter sort of reflects the tiredness I feel. Hopefully it's not too depressing...**

**Anyway, if you guys are still reading this, a truck load of thanks to you! If I'm back, it's only because of you all! :)**

* * *

_You keep it on the inside because that's the safest place to hide_

_~unknown_

* * *

**Mission Commander Rose Hathaway**

"Let me get this clear," I said, glaring at the screen in front of me. "You don't have a course of action for us?"

"I'm afraid not, Commander Hathaway," came the voice of Dr. Berkeley, the senior head of our mission. "It's not been finalized yet."

_Not finalized yet? _

How was that even possible? It's always been the Earth Center that planned the next move. Now I was being told that they had no plans at all?

Were they playing with our future?

"What would you have us do, Doctor?" I asked, my voice rising. "Do you want us to stay suspended over Rayana indefinitely?"

"I did not say that, Commander." Dr. Berkeley's voice was tired, even exasperated. It only angered me more. _What right did she have to be exasperated and tired? _"We will determine the course of action over the next few days and get back to you."

"We're wasting time." I repeated, unable to understand why the Earth Center wasn't taking this seriously. "Do I really need to stress the importance of this mission, doctor? Or, have you given up on us already?"

"You're our only hope." Dr. Berkeley's reply was mechanical. "We know what this mission means, Commander. It-"

"We've never failed to update our status," I reminded her, clenching my fists. "You knew we were about to enter Rayana. You knew how hostile the environment was. I've kept you updated at each turn. Yet, you're telling me that you don't know what we should do next? Shouldn't you have planned the course of action when you heard about what a failure Rayana was?"

Dr. Berkeley sighed. "We're trying our best here-"

I held up a hand to stop her. "Try harder. You've gone the entire J.S.A at your disposal. Use them. Next time, don't give me this nonsense about trying your best. It's not you stuck in a galaxy thousands of light years away from home. It's not you staring at the hopelessness on the faces of your crew. It's definitely not you risking your life every minute. So, pardon me if I don't appreciate your difficulty."

Dr. Berkeley nodded, strangely subdued.

Before pressing the End button that would cut off my connection to the Earth, I looked her in the eye as I reminded her one last time, "Make sure the phone calls I asked for are put through. And next time? Tell Dr. Dragomir to call himself. I'd rather speak to him."

With that, I cut the call.

Exhaling, I reflected on the conversation. I may have been harsh, perhaps unnecessarily so but I couldn't help it. I couldn't deal with the Earth Center's lack of responsibility on top of everything else.

A small knock on the Conference door reminded me of what else I had to deal with.

"Come in," I called, leaning against the table.

The entire crew came in, looking apprehensive but hopeful.

I tried to look calm but my mind was spinning. My chest burned as I fought against the urge to sag against the table.

I had work to do.

I couldn't afford to be weak.

"Well?" Christian prompted when the crew settled in chairs around the table.

Lowering myself gingerly onto the seat at the head of the table, I scrubbed my face before looking at everyone.

Lissa and Tasha looked expectant but Christian looked wary, perhaps suspecting that all had not gone as we'd hoped. Adrian looked speculative and Dimitri...

There was barely a hint of curiosity in those mysterious dark eyes. They were fixed on me and just like always, he seemed to know what I was thinking. Analyzing me for a quick second, he exhaled softly and shook his head.

He knew.

He knew things were not going well for us.

When he looked up at me again, his eyes were filled with nothing but comfort. He still sought to reassure me.

Perhaps he could sense that I was not okay.

While I wanted nothing more than to be wrapped in his arms, I had to remind myself that I had responsibilities to deal with.

I couldn't think about Dimitri or the burning hole in my chest.

_I couldn't think about myself._

"Rose?" Lissa's voice was quiet and filled with apprehension.

I raised my head to look her in the eye.

I forced myself to speak, "J.S.A has no course of action for us."

With that, I leaned back on my seat and closed my eyes, bracing myself for their response.

I was not disappointed.

My statement was met by an explosion of reactions, the tone and tenure different but the context was the same. Shock, disbelief, hopelessness. They steadily corroded the walls of the conference room, smothering and noxious. They fed on energy, killing hope and happiness until there was nothing left.

Or perhaps that was just me.

Maybe the poisonous emotions were within me, burning me. I couldn't fight it, I didn't want to fight it.

I'd realized that I deserved this.

I deserved all this negativity.

I was the one who failed them. I was supposed to lead and what a spectacular job I'd done.

As if testament to the fact, Tasha's voice penetrated my mind. "Rose, how could let this happen?"

"Is there no way now, Rose?"

"What do we do now?"

"Rose?"

_God damn it!_

Voice swirled together in my head, words mixing into an endless stream that hammered my conscience.

I did fail them.

Unexpectedly, one voice rose above the others. Adrian. "Leave her alone, dammit! It's not her fault."

Perhaps it was Lissa who spoke next, her voice gentle. "Of course not. It-"

Her voice faltered when there was a heavy thud. Then, Tasha and Adrian's voice rose in pitch, perhaps in argument.

I couldn't understand.

Darkness swam before my eyes as my stomach rolled. My ears buzzed, trapping me within my own body. The burn in my chest heightened, consuming every pore and every crevice of my body.

I wanted to tear away from this.

I didn't want to feel anymore.

I didn't want _anything_ anymore.

But that was not to be.

An insistent voice registered somewhere in the depths of my mind that was not occupied by pain. Light, warm touches on my shoulder, shaking me gently.

Trying to focus, I found that the voice calling me was anxious. Fearful.

For whom?

I was shook again, increasing the pain tenfold.

Trying to move away from the now discomforting touch, I was met by resistance before the same voice spoke again.

Dimitri?

But it didn't matter. Not now, not when the pain rose in a tidal wave and consumed me entirely. I cried, kicked and pushed but it made no difference. Not until I knew no more.

* * *

A steady pounding penetrated the dark haze around me. Blinking in irritation, I squinted to find the source of that sound. My eyes landed on a blond figure seated at the edge of my bed.

"Rose?" Lissa called cautiously.

"Wassat noise?" I managed to mumble.

Thankfully, Lissa understood me. She quietly pointed to the heart monitor set up next to me, monitoring my heart rate through dozens of small wires connected to my skin.

"Rose?" Lissa's tone was gentle, bringing my attention back to her.

I grinned sloppily, not because I was cheerful but because I wanted to erase the tension lines on her forehead. "Hey, Liss."

Lissa managed a watery smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Fantastic," I said though I was feeling anything but.

The look Lissa gave me was reminiscent of the one Dimitri usually wore when he knew I was lying to make him feel better.

Lissa also added a dry smile. "Why don't we try for the truth now?"

"Do you and Dimitri practice your lines together?" I asked with a grimace.

"Don't change the topic," she warned. "We'll talk about Dimitri later. Now, tell me what's going on with you these days?"

I looked around the room to avoid her eyes.

"Nothing." I replied, fiddling with the strap that had bound me to the bed. "Nothing's going on."

Lissa huffed, her jade eyes flashing. "Don't give me that crap, Rose. I know something's wrong. I thought I'd leave you alone until you decided to come to me yourself. I should have known that wouldn't happen."

I tried to interrupt but Lissa's glare stopped me.

She really meant business.

"I don't know why I thought you'd decide to talk to me yourself," she continued, her hands clasped together. "I should have known better. When have you ever decided to tell me about your problems-"

"That's not fair!" I gritted out, clenching my fists. "I've told you everything there is-"

"Then why did you choose to keep me in the dark this time?" Lissa asked softly. "I know that you've been struggling with something, Rose. I know it has something to do with Dimitri. So, why don't you just tell me what happened?"

"It's a long story," I said evasively.

"I've got time." Lissa's mouth was set in a hard line, indicating that she wouldn't budge.

"Liss-" I started but I knew I couldn't escape it. I had to tell her. I'd been keeping secrets for too long.

Trying to push the guilt to the back of my mind, I told her about Cotopa, right from the time I'd collapsed outside Sietera to what had happened just moments ago.

I could see different emotions reflected on Lissa's face as I spoke but she didn't interrupt me. When I was done, she had tears streaming down her face.

"How could you keep all this from me?" she asked, her tone nearly hysterical.

"I didn't want to worry you," I said but I knew that it was a feeble excuse. Why hadn't I told her before?

As I asked myself that question, I also found my answer. I didn't want my illness to hamper the mission. I didn't want all the negative attention it would bring. But most of all, I couldn't see hopelessness on the faces on my crew.

I'd already failed them multiple times.

"I'm so angry with you," Lissa said between tears. "So angry. After everything we've been through, Rose, you chose to keep it from me?"

I was about to interrupt but she stopped me.

"No," she said firmly, wiping away her tears. "I don't need to hear any more of your excuses. I don't need to know why you betrayed me."

I was shocked by her words, "Liss-"

"Don't interrupt me, Rose." Lissa said, standing up and pacing in front of me. Her eyes were filled with a wild light that honestly scared me.

Suddenly she halted her pacing and turned to face me. Her expression was neutral...calm.

It was unnerving.

She took a deep breath and looked me in the eyes. "I need to fix you. I will fix you, Rose Hathaway. And then you're going to pay."

* * *

**AN: Okaaayyyy...that was a little bit too much darkness on Lissa's part but I guess I wanted to show a reflection of how she was in the VA series under the influence of darkness. Was it too much? Please do leave a review and let me know what you thought about this messed up chapter? Am I losing my touch?**

**I started this story at a time when my work load was almost negligible and I really don't know how to continue this now. I'm not abandoning the story but everything that I'd planned previously seem kinda dull. I had a certain ending in mind but now I'm full of doubts. I need your help, people! How do you think this story should end? We may have maximum of ten chapters more, I think. Would you like them to have the cliched happy ending of saving the earth? Or should they discover another planet that supports life? I'd love to hear anything you guys can come up with...**

**Until next time, lots of love! :)**


	18. A ray of light in the darkness

**Hi, hello, namaste! Totally unexpected, right? ;)  
**

**Is anyone still reading this? If yes, I sincerely hope you enjoy this chapter. I know I did :p**

**Small warning: the f-word is used once or twice in this chapter. **

* * *

_Love never dies. _

_It fizzles out, maybe but it stays there in your heart buried by emotions controlling you. _

_Once the fire is rekindled, love resurfaces again and breathes a new life._

_ ~Elizabeth E. Castillo_

* * *

**Rose Hathaway  
**

"Mia, are you ready?" I asked, my voice surprising steady. A facade, that's all it was.

Nothing about me was real these days, except for the crushing depression. I was a shadow of my former self, a shadow I sought to conceal beneath this mask of strength. I wanted nothing more than oblivion but I had a job to do.

"Recording begins in 3,2,1…" Mia's voice faded and silence filled the room.

Taking a deep breath, I turned around to face my crew.

There they sat, a bunch of clueless young scientists so far away from home. They'd looked up to me to lead them and so far, I'd failed horribly. But not anymore.

Inquisitive eyes greeted me as I walked over to the conference table where they were seated. I met each gaze coolly but avoided the jade green and dark brown.

"I know you have questions," I began, folding my arms over my chest. "I know that as your commander, it's my job to answer them."

I paused for a moment, shrugging off the twin glares I could feel burning my skin. Pushing away the vague feeling of guilt, I continued, "I hope you know that I've tried to do my job to the best of my ability. But…my time's up."

"What do you mean?" Adrian asked sharply.

Taking a deep breath, I firmly stated: "I'm stepping down."

For a second, the room was quiet and steeped in a shocked silence before voices rose. I didn't care to separate the bunch of words being hurled at me, didn't pause to make sense of their protests. I knew what I had to do.

"Nothing you say is going to change my mind," I said softly, my eyes fixed on the opposite wall and amazingly, the voices quietened.

"Thank you." I nodded before looking down at them. "I wouldn't do this if it wasn't for the best."

"Why?" Christian asked simply, leaning back on his chair.

"Does this have anything to do with you collapsing on us that day?" Adrian asked, his tone suspicious.

I exhaled and nodded. "It's part of the reason, yes."

"Rose," Lissa stood up and walked over, surprising me. Her expression was confused but underneath that, I could sense her reaching out to me."I told you to leave that to me-"

I tried to smile. "I wish I could. I have complete faith in you, Liss, I do. But I'm only trying to do what's right."

"And what's that?" Dimitri didn't raise his voice but he might as well have. I was so tuned to him that I knew, without looking at him, that he was not happy. I had deliberately tried to ignore his presence so far, knowing that he wouldn't allow me to do this.

"The right thing-" I looked at him for the first time in days. I'd ignored everyone after my fainting episode, desperate to figure out some kind of solution to this entire problem. "-is giving up my claim. The right thing is stepping down."

"You're gonna have to explain it to us, Rose." Tasha said calmly.

"Sit down, Liss." I gestured to her chair before taking a deep breath. "I don't know how much of this I can explain. Here's the deal. There's a lot of stuff I've had to deal with, personally, and a lot of stuff I've had to deal with as a captain."

"What personal stuff?" Christian asked.

"There's a reason it's called _personal_, Christian." I said, a touch of snark in my voice. It was a good development, knowing that I could feel something other than crushing depression.

"Oh, come on!" Christian threw up his hands. "The six of us are stuck in the middle of nowhere with no one except each other. Don't you think we deserve to know?"

"You do," I agreed, shocking him. He had not expected _that_. "But I'm not ready to tell you. Yet."

I shot a warning glance at Lissa as I talked, hoping she wouldn't say anything to Christian. Things weren't great between us at the moment but she wouldn't betray me, surely.

She shook her head slightly, all the while glaring at me reproachfully. If this was her reaction, I didn't even want to look at Dimitri.

"The bottom line is that things are too much for me to handle at the moment," I told them honestly. "You deserve a captain who can concentrate fully on the task. Someone strong enough to handle our current situation."

I exhaled before forcing myself to look at Dimitri. "Someone like Dimitri."

Silence fell again.

Dimitri's voice was ice cold when he uttered the one word I'd expected from him. "No." He crossed his arms over his chest, his posture mimicking mine.

But I wasn't about to give up.

"Alright," I shrugged, acting nonchalant. "Then we have no captain. I'm not changing my mind."

"Nor am I," he said, his voice steely. "I'm not going to do it."

"As you wish," I forced a smirk on my face. "I hope you enjoy watching us suffer, stuck here outside Rayana while we all bicker over who's going to be the captain. I hope you enjoy _our failure _knowing that _you_ could have changed our fate if only you'd stepped up."

Dimitri's eyes burned as they locked with mine. He knew I wasn't playing fair but there was nothing he could do, especially when everyone else got on board pretty quickly.

"You need to accept it, Dimka." Tasha said, rubbing Dimitri's arm.

"She's right, man." Christian said, patting Dimitri's shoulder.

Adrian, surprisingly, was supportive. "If not Rose, it has to be you."

Dimitri shook his head, not looking away from me. His eyes were accusing. laced with pain and hurt. I'd known that I'd hurt him with my behavior, pushing him away when only recently we'd began patching things up. He hated that I'd put him on spot, forcing him to step up and do my job but I had no other option. I knew I was right…but why did it have to hurt so much?

As I watched, Lissa leaned over to place her hand on top of his.

"Please, Dimitri." She whispered and his eyes left mine to look at her. Something passed between them at that moment, almost as if they were communicating without words. I might have been jealous if I was capable of feeling anything. As though reaching an agreement, Dimitri nodded and squeezed Lissa's hand.

"I'll do it." He said, giving me a cursory glance before accepting hugs from Tasha and Christian.

"Good." I couldn't read him and I was too tired to try. Needing an escape, I left the room quickly.

* * *

**Physician Astronaut Vasilisa Dragomir  
**

"What are you thinking about, babe?" Christian asked in my ear, his arm resting on the back of my chair.

I leaned my head on his shoulder. "Rose." I said simply.

Christian exhaled and slumped back in his seat. "What is _going on_ with her?"

"Too much," I sighed, rubbing my forehead. Christian looked at me curiously but I averted my eyes.

It was not my secret to tell.

My eyes strayed over to Dimitri who sat between Tasha and Adrian, listening to their discussion. But I knew that he wasn't really concentrating.

No, he was thinking the same thing I was.

He was thinking about _Rose._

He was probably taking this harder than me, if that was even possible. I admit, I didn't know him very well but who did, apart from Rose? Dimitri always kept to himself but you grow close to a person when you're part of a small team. Christian had been right when he'd said that we only had each other now. The six of us were bound together.

Rose had told me everything that had happened between her and Dimitri in the past. But she'd told me nothing about whatever was brewing between them here. I'd thought that she would, I'd even waited for her to confess everything. She always did.

I couldn't begin to express how hurt I'd been at finding out how _much_ she'd kept from me. I'd known that there was something going on between her and Dimitri, that much was obvious. All those prolonged glances at each other, meaningful looks exchanged across the room, the obvious longing…yes, they'd been quite transparent, at least as far as I was concerned.

But Rose's secret had been much bigger than that. Something I was still coming in terms with. I was itching to run tests on her, determine once and for all if she had cotopa and then start working on a cure. But she'd kept away from all of us since the time I'd confronted her. Dimitri and I had talked and decided she needed space but -

I stood up abruptly, startling Christian in the process. Dimitri had just left the room. I needed to talk to him.

"I'll be back in a second." I told Christian distractedly and followed Dimitri out of the room.

Before I could call out to him, Dimitri turned around to face me in the hallway.

"I'm going to talk to her," he said bluntly, his tone leaving no room for arguments.

I was stunned. "You can't. We agreed-"

"- to give her time, yes." Dimitri clenched his fists, a clear sign of agitation from a man who was always so composed. "But this had gone too far, Liss."

I looked at him quietly, trying to analyze the situation. Would it better if he talked to Rose? Would it further deteriorate things with her?

"Look, I know you're the one with a degree in psychology." Dimitri said, taking a step closer to me and holding up his hands in a placating gesture. "You know how to handle emotions far better than I do. But this is _Rose_. I can't see her slipping further and further away from us, Lissa. I _can't_."

My breath caught in my throat at the raw pain in his voice. It was so unsettling to see Dimitri showing vulnerability. He has always been so larger than life, so in control of himself and the situation on hand, capable of analyzing things without his emotions clouding his judgment. But here he was, almost drowning in the sea of his emotions.

"Go." I said with a nod, understanding that he needed to do this. "Bring her back to us."

With a small nod in return, Dimitri turned and purposefully strode down the hallway.

Perhaps this was for the best. If anyone could get through to Rose, it was Dimitri.

It always has been Dimitri.

* * *

**Rose**

My bedroom door banged open, jarring me from familiar darkness of my own head.

Dimitri strode into my room like a powerful god, his lab coat flying behind him as he took purposeful steps in my direction.

The door snapped shut and he came to a stop in front of the wall I was leaning back against.

"Get up," he said impatiently.

I looked up at him from my position on the floor, wondering why he was disturbing me now. I'd maintained my distance from everyone for the past few days and they'd been so graciously giving me my space. Why was Dimitri determined to disturb the balance now?

He arched an eyebrow when I didn't move. "Well?"

"No." I said stubbornly, curling further into a ball beneath my thick blanket.

Dimitri crossed his arms as he loomed over me, appearing freakishly large from my position on the ground. "Get up now or I'll make you."

"Leave me alone," I groaned irritably, averting my eyes from his burning ones. I'd spent all my energy coming over to the control room earlier and resigning from my position. I wanted nothing more than to be left alone, damn it! Was it too much to ask?

Apparently it was, for Dimitri leaned down in my swift motion, grasped me by my forearms and hauled me to my feet. I feebly tried to push him away but he was so strong.

I slumped back against the wall in defeat. "What do you want?"

"I want a lot of things, Rose." Dimitri said quietly as he leaned closer. "But more than anything, I want _my_ Rose back."

Tears stung my eyes. "She's not here," I mumbled, looking down.

Dimitri was silent for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was even, almost conversational, "that's too bad. I'm not leaving until _she's_ back."

I scoffed, looking up at him. "Why? Fat lot of good she did. You're better off without her."

"That's not for you to decide." Dimitri said firmly.

"Yes, it is." I sighed, leaning my head back to rest against the wall. "Don't you see? I'm a mess. You deserve better."

"Don't give me that bullshit, Rose." His voice was quietly furious. "Don't you dare push me away like you did before."

His words were designed to hurt. He knew how much I regretted the fact that I'd severed our friendship and yet he was using it to hurt me. Well, then.

"Maybe that was for the best," I said through gritted teeth. He wanted to hurt me? I could hurt him in return. "Maybe we never should have reconciled. Maybe we're better off apart from each other-"

I went too far.

But I had to. He was better off without me and he had to understand that.

I hated that I could still respond to the pain I saw in his eyes. God, why did he have to come in here? Why couldn't he have left me alone? I didn't want this, I didn't want anything! I didn't want to see, I didn't want to fucking _feel._

As I watched, Dimitri's eyes hooded, the pain firmly shut behind…anger?

"Maybe we are," he all but growled. "But this isn't about us. This is about _you_. This is about you trying to shoulder the weight of the world."

"What-?" I spluttered indignantly.

"Yes." He stepped in closer, caging me against the wall. "You have to find the solution to every problem, don't you? You have to fucking fix _everything. _If things don't go according to your plan, the world falls apart, does it not?"

"It's not about my plan-"

"Isn't it?" Dimitri mocked. "We fail to find viela. Your fault. Rayana proved to be inhospitable. Your fault again. Earth has no course of action planned out and again, your fault. But let me tell you something, Rose. It's not always about you."

My eyes burned and filled with tears. Why was he being so cruel? "I didn't say-"

He shook his head sadly. "The worst part is that you don't even realize that you are part of a team. That people care about you and want to help you in anyway they can but no, Rose Hathaway doesn't need help, does she?"

"Stop it!" I shouted, pushing him back angrily.

"What else can I say, Rose?" He nearly yelled, equally angry. "Should I leave you alone here so that you can wallow in misery? Maybe I should but I _can't_."

"Dimitri-"

He ran his hand through his hair, his posture defeated. "I don't know what to say to make you realize that you're not alone."

I tried to swallow back my tears. "I'm sorry-"

"I tried so hard to help you, _Roza_…"

I threw my arms around him, holding him tightly. He was right, he was so right. I'd barely acknowledged that I had friends, that I had _him._ I'd never given my friends much thought before. I hadn't even considered Adrian, Christian or Tasha at all. Lissa, I was busy trying to protect and that blew up in my face. And Dimitri…I'd treated him worst of all, hot and cold until I completely froze him off after my collapse in the control room. The myriad emotions that I associated with him had been too much for me to handle so I'd simply settled for pushing him off my thoughts.

As Dimitri's arms came up to wrap around me, I promised myself I'd never do it again.

After a moment of silent deliberation, I pulled away to look at him desperately. "You'll help me, won't you? I can't fight on my own, I…I just want it to end, Dimitri."

Dimitri grasped my chin gently to tilt my face up. "Rose, listen to me. You've fought for a long time. You've been fighting all along; against me, against us, cotopa and the entire universe. It's time to let go."

"But…" I wiped away the tears streaming down my face. "I can't fail-"

"You won't." Dimitri's voice was resolute, echoing with faith._ In me._ "I won't let you, you hear me? I won't let you."

Emotion filled my body at his words; warm, wonderful and reassuring. I stood on my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his.

I savored our soft kiss; the feeling of Dimitri pressed up against me, holding me close and the undercurrent of love that had _always_ been there between us. We've loved each other forever, have been each other's best friend even when we were miles apart. Even when we weren't on best terms, we still cared about the other. But now, that love was so much more.

There was this undeniable attraction now, making our relationship so much more tenuous, exciting, exhilarating…more of _everything. _

Not for the first time, I appreciated and enjoyed the fact that Dimitri was my safe harbor. He was my everything and I'd never really let him know that.

I broke the kiss to look at those gorgeous dark eyes.

"I love you," I told him truthfully, not wanting him to have any doubt about it. "I love you so much. I don't know what I'd do without you."

Dimitri's face softened into a heart-stopping smile. He answered by kissing me again, his hands tangled in my hair as I gripped his face. The kiss was pure love, sweet and soft and oh, so powerful. Ever so slowly, it turned hungry, both of us wanting more, more, more.

I clung to him, my nails digging into his back as he moved us back until my knees hit my bed. He lowered me onto the bed, his hands trailing over my body and playing with the edge of my shirt.

I breathed sharply when his lips moved to my neck, leaving butterfly kisses as he mumbled my name like a prayer: "_Roza_…_Roza.._"

His fingers slipped beneath my shirt and trailed along my waist, leaving burning skin in their wake. I arched upward, letting his lips press harder against my skin. My fingers tangled in his silky strands, lost in-

A loud knock echoed through the room, startling us.

Dimitri and I looked at each other blankly for a moment, disconcerted to discover that we'd completely forgotten the world around us.

Lissa's voice penetrated the room. "Rose? Dimitri?"

With a sigh, Dimitri disentangled himself from me and sat up.

Looking at his tousled hair and rumpled clothes, I had to smother my laughter. Rolling his eyes, he gestured to my own hair as he fixed his clothes.

"Rose?" Lissa called again.

"Tell her I'm sleeping," I whispered to him, sitting up.

Dimitri shot me an amused look. "You do realize the room is sound-proof, don't you?"

I crossed my arms. "Will you tell her or not?"

"And what should I tell us I was doing?" he asked me skeptically. "Watching you sleep?"

I shrugged. "If it suits you."

"What if she wants to see you?" Dimitri asked as the handle of the door rattled. "How will you explain your appearance?"

I smoothed the top of my head. "Bed head, of course."

Dimitri smirked and he leaned down to whisper in my ear. "What about your lips?"

I traced his soft lips with my index finger. "Yours are no better."

"Whose fault is that?"

Turning my head to press a quick kiss to his lips, I grinned with no regret. "Completely mine."

* * *

**AN:** Allrighto! So, I think I'm back for good and willing to finish this story even though I'm so confused about the ending. Forgive me but it seems very unreasonable to assume they'll make it back to earth in one piece, let alone save the planet. But if that's what you want, that's what you'll get ;)

Anyway,** I really need to know if you guys are still reading this. If yes, leave a review. I'll only continue the story if I get an appropriate repsonse :)**

Until next time! (If there is one) :D


	19. Rejuvenescence

**Hi! :)**

**Thank you so much for the massive response! I don't know if I've managed to reply to every review; if I haven't, I'm extremely sorry! Thank you so much for showing such love for this story :)**

**I kinda have a lot to say about this story but I'll let you enjoy the chapter in peace. Please read the AN at the bottom :)**

**Love you all! ;)**

* * *

_Somewhere between our laughs, long talks, _

_stupid little fights and all our lame jokes..._

_I fell in love._

~Unknown

* * *

**Pilot astronaut Rose Hathaway.**

"Hey, Lissa!" I faked a large smile when I opened the door, discretely straightening my shirt as I kept one hand on the door.

Lissa's suspicious jade eyes widened, either because of my suddenly sunny disposition or because of my messy appearance.

"What's going on?" She questioned slowly, eyes scanning me thoroughly.

"Nothing!" I said, perhaps a little too brightly.

Lissa crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes. "Where's Dimitri?"

"He left." I shrugged, shifting slightly to block Lissa's view of the room behind me.

"Oh?" Lissa arched an eyebrow, a trick we'd all tried to learn from Dimitri in the early days of our voyage. Lissa was the only one who'd picked it up and right now, that was not helping me conceal things from her.

Knowing I needed to distract her, I pulled on an earnest expression: "Lissa, I'm fine. Dimitri made me realized just how idiotic I was acting by pushing you all away."

Lissa scanned my face intently and then relaxed visibly. "I'm glad. You know we're here for you, right?"

"Of course!" I grinned, relaxing a little in turn.

Unfortunately for me, lowering my guard was exactly what Lissa was after, that wily shrew. Without warning, she stood on her tiptoes and peered over my shoulder.

"Lissa!" I pulled the door to a close behind me.

"You're keeping secrets from me." Lissa accused. "Again!"

I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. Of course, she figured it out. "It's nothing serious. In fact, it's not even a secret. It's just-"

I faltered, not knowing what to tell her. That Dimitri and I were a couple? Were we, really? It was such a inconsequential detail, especially when so much was going on…

Lissa studied me for a moment. Something seemed to click, for she gave me a large smile and did a little skip.

"Yes!" She whooped and grabbed me in a hug.

What was with the bipolar attitude?

Pulling back, she beamed and retreated a few paces. "I'll be going, then. Bye!"

Baffled, I watched her as she giggled and walked over to the stairs before looking back at me with a wink.

"Don't worry, Rose." She said, that broad grin still in place. "I'll make up some excuse for the others. Good night!"

Oh, that cheeky devil…

Shaking my head at her happiness, I stepped into my room and shut the door behind me, my eyes falling on the person lounging in my bed.

"She's incredibly astute," was the first thing he said, his arms crossed behind his head.

"She's always been," I told him, smiling as I walked over to sit on the bed. "I don't know why I keep forgetting that."

Dimitri straightened his position to pull him into his arms. Laying my head on his chest, I reflected on the incredibly topsy-turvy day that I'd had.

"So you realized just how idiotic you were acting, huh?" Dimitri mumbled into my hair, quoting the words I'd said to Lissa.

"Mmhm…" I raised my head slightly to look at him.

He looked into my eyes, running his fingers through my hair soothingly.

"I'm glad you knocked some sense into me." I said truthfully, pressing a quick kiss to his lips.

He smiled into the kiss, pulling away to press a kiss my forehead.

I snuggled into his side, making myself comfortable. Dimitri pulled my blanket over us and switched off the light.

It was strange how we'd both reached the same conclusion of going to sleep on my bed. I didn't want Dimitri to leave me alone and he'd understood without me having to say a single word.

I might have stayed up all night, thinking about the effect our growing relationship might have on our mission and on the team, if I'd not been so damn tired.

There would be time to introspect tomorrow.

Tonight, it was just Dimitri and I- the distance between us finally reduced to nothing.

Well, at least the emotional distance.

I wonder how it would be when we finally came together…physically.

Feeling my body start to heat up, I chastised myself for even entertaining such thoughts.

There were a lot more important things to worry about, after all.

_But the heart wants what it wants._

Logically, I knew I should be concentrating on finding solutions to our life-or-death problems but my heart only wanted to think about Dimitri and I, our relationship…just us.

"Rose…" Dimitri whispered, almost asleep. "Stop thinking and go to sleep."

"How did you know?" I whispered back.

"I can almost hear your brain working overtime," he replied, raising a hand to pat my head. "You need to rest."

"Alright." I cuddled closer to him, determined to shut the voices in my head.

Dimitri's nimble fingers massaging my head was so relaxing… I felt myself drifting off to sleep when a sudden thought struck me.

"Dimitri?" I whispered, raising my head to look at his face.

"Hmm?" He didn't open his eyes, clearly not fully awake.

I pressed a kiss to his chin. "You know those four tasks you set for me?"

"Yeah…" His reply was barely coherent.

But I couldn't stop talking, not with this new realization. "I already finished one!"

He finally opened his eyes and looked me for a moment, before realization stuck. Rolling his eyes, he said: "You didn't even do anything."

"So?" I poked his cheek, determined to get the response I wanted.

He grumbled and turned sideways, away from me.

"Hey!" I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back to me. "It still counts."

He sighed deeply and pulled me down to him. "Whatever you say,_ Roza_. Whatever you say."

* * *

**\- - -The next day- - -**

Okay, I admit that this was my fault.

I shouldn't have reminded Dimitri about those four tasks.

I would have hoped that he wouldn't remember it considering he was so sleepy and all but no, this was Dimitri after all.

The man was like a dog with a bone and now, he wouldn't leave me alone until I finished the second task.

Which, he'd modified, by the way.

But no amount of arguing on my behalf had done any good; he could be quite a pest when he wanted to be.

Sighing, I pushed open the door to the conference room.

Making Dimitri commander had been my fault. How was I to know it would come back and bite me in the ass?

He'd used his power as a commander and called an emergency crew meeting before breakfast.

Yeah, no wiggle room whatsoever. I really had to do this.

Five faces with five vastly different expressions turned to stare at me when I walked into the room.

There was Lissa who couldn't stop smirking at me as though we had some private joke, which maybe we did considering she almost caught me and Dimitri together yesterday and had subsequently figured out that I was trying to hide him from her.

If only she knew what I was here to do. Or say. She wouldn't be so cheerful then.

There was Christian beside her, who looked both inquisitive and apprehensive. He must be thinking of what the last few meetings resulted in: my collapse under unexplained circumstances and my subsequent resignation.

What surprised me was the shadow of worry in his eyes. Yup, he must have figured out that I only had bad news to give them.

"What's going on, Rose?" Adrian asked, looking genuinely worried. His lovely green eyes scanned me wearily, his hands twitching as they lay on the table. My collapse had definitely worried this man.

At that moment, I felt very guilty for having kept them in the dark. They deserved to know.

And that was exactly why Dimitri was forcing me to confess the 'strange circumstances' around my losing consciousness that day.

He wanted me to tell them about Cotopa.

But how did he expect him to tell them out of the blue? _'Hey, guys! You see, I've been keeping something huge from you all. I have a deadly disease called Cotopa. I might drop dead any moment. But no worries, let's carry on with the mission.'?_

"The floor's yours, Rose." Dimitri prompted, stepping aside to sit beside Christian.

He smiled innocently when I looked at him but I could clearly see that he was worried for me. He was probably wondering if he'd done the right thing by pushing me into this.

He was right, of course. I needed to tell them sooner or later.

Wanting to assuage his doubts, I faked a smile and moved to the head of the table. "Well, I'm sure you're all wondering what kind of bad news I'll give you all this time."

Christian smirked and shook his head. "Do I want to hear it?"

I snorted. "Nope, but you have to."

"What is it?" Tasha asked, leaning forward to look at me curiously.

Of the six, she was perhaps the one who was least close to me. When I'd met her, I'd been so awed by this beautiful lady who'd accomplished so much. That awe carried for nearly a year, when we were training for this mission. The admiration gradually faded as we became colleagues, equals. But our relationship started taking a turn for the worse when we both, subconsciously on my part at least, starting fighting over Dimitri. Now that he was completely mine, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

But this was not about Dimitri.

Or, Tasha and Dimitri.

Ew, there was no Tasha and Dimitri!

I really needed to stop distracting myself. It wasn't going to make this easier.

"Rose?" Lissa looked concerned now, perhaps having figured out what I was about to say. She'd already collected my blood samples with a promise to let me know the results soon. It didn't matter that she hadn't completely forgiven me yet; she was here for me as she'd always been.

I nodded to myself. I had to do this. "Well, there's no point in procrastinating so I'll just come out and say it."

Dimitri, who was sitting on the chair next to where I was standing, reached over and grasped my hand, intertwining our fingers to lend me some of his strength.

I smiled at him in gratitude and faced the others.

"Ihavecotopa." I said too fast, with an air of ripping off a band-aid from a large wound.

"Wow, you sure talk slowly." Christian said sarcastically.

"You have what?" Tasha asked in confusion.

But Adrian had paled, having heard me clearly. He gaped at me and I nodded once, confirming that he'd indeed heard right.

"What?" Christian asked, looking between me and Adrian.

Adrian exhaled harshly and slumped back in his seat.

"I have cotopa, Christian." I said without looking at him.

Tasha gasped loudly.

To everyone's surprise, Christian stood up abruptly and strode over to me. "What are you talking about? You don't have Cotopa."

My eyes stung as Adrian looked at me beseechingly, almost begging me to deny it. Lissa's eyes were red with suppressed tears as she reached out to grasp Adria's arm.

"I have Cotopa." I repeated again, squeezing Dimitri's hand.

"No!" Christian shouted, striding away. "You can't have Cotopa. We all had medical scans before boarding the Klasana and nothing was detected."

Tasha stood up and went over to him. "Christian, calm down-"

"Calm down?" He stared at her incredulously, his blue eyes flashing. "Rose just admitted that she has a life threatening disease. Don't you care about that?"

"Of course I care!" Tasha snapped, grasping his arms. "But getting angry won't help anyone, least of all Rose."

"You could die," Adrian interjected, his tone hollow. All eyes turned to him but he just stared at the table with dazed eyes. "You could actually die."

"Adrian-"

"No, she won't." Dimitri said firmly, glaring at Adrian. "Nothing will happen to her."

Adrian laughed without mirth. "She will and we won't be able to stop it. Just like Alberta."

I flinched at his words.

Christian banged his arms on the table: "Shut up!"

Adrian ignored him, that sad, sad grin still on his face. "You're going to die."

"Adrian, stop it!" Lissa said sharply.

He shook his head, laughing in a way that set my nerves on edge. "She will, you wait and see. _She'll die_."

Dimitri pulled me down to sit on his lap, his arms protective around me as though he could shield me from Adrian's words. I rested my forehead on his shoulder, trying to draw deep breaths.

Adrian's voice was echoing in my ear: "She'll die, she'll die, she'll die..."

Would I, really? All this time, I knew I had a life threatening disease but the reality had not fully sunk in, not with the threat of death in space hanging over all of us, not with the myriad problems and responsibilities and duties and-

I could actually die.

Adrian was most probably right. But why was he still repeating it?

Suppressing a sob at the hollow tone accompanying those words, I turned to Adrian to beg him to stop.

"She'll die-" Lissa cut Adrian off with a resounding slap to his cheek.

A shocked silence filled the room as we all gaped at sweet, gentle Lissa.

She was fuming, glaring at Adrian as if she was mentally setting him on fire.

Adrian, for his part, seemed to snap out of his craziness as he cradled his cheek.

"Did you just hit me?" He asked her incredulously, eyes wide.

"Yes!" Lissa's cheeks had turned red, either from exhaustion or anger. "And I'll slap you again if you repeat that bullshit."

Christian closed his mouth with a snap. "Remind me never to get on your bad side, babe." he said weakly.

Lissa shot me a small smile at him before glaring at Adrian again. His emerald eyes scanned her warily as he edged his chair away from her.

This seems to have triggered Lissa, for she started laughing abruptly.

This girl was so full of surprises.

Adrian scowled at her as she laughed, holding the stitches at her side as she attempted to smother her chuckles.

Looking at this, Adrian started laughing while gingerly rubbing his jaw.

Tasha let out an incredulous snort which, unfortunately for her, came out rather loudly.

Adrian guffawed at that sound, now clutching the table as he laughed hard enough that his eyes teared up.

Christian joined in the laughter fest when Lissa slapped Adrian's back, rubbing her own eyes.

What on God's green earth, or rather- on God's spaceship- was going on?

Well, if this was helping them cope, I couldn't begrudge them of it. I tried to imagine what it would like if I had to hear one of my crew members confess to having a disease.

It was not a pleasant thought.

If they wanted to let out their shock in the form of laughter, they were more than welcome to.

Sighing, I shifted on Dimitri's lap to look up at him.

His deep brown eyes were full of pain but there was strength there, a conviction that I'd be fine. Attempting a smile, I ensconced myself in his arms, burying my face on his shoulder.

His hand rubbed my back soothingly as we listened to our friends' crazy laughter.

You know what? I'd take laughing to crying. Any day.

* * *

**\- -Two days later- -  
**

"Will you stop acting weird around me?" I snapped as I glared around the table.

Tasha flinched guiltily and Christian rubbed the back of his head.

"You've had two days to get used to it," I pointed out unnecessarily as Dimitri set a tray in front of me. "It's about time you stopped wincing whenever you look at me."

Sitting down gracefully in the chair beside mine, Dimitri cast an amused glance in my direction before going back to his tray of semi-solid Itarian food that tasted like feet. Honest.

"We're not that bad," Christian protested without much conviction.

"I'm not going to going to break and flutter away in tiny pieces." I grouched, stabbing my food with a fork.

Lissa slapped my arm. "Don't joke about that."

I shrugged. "I'm just saying-"

"Rose." Dimitri interrupted me in an exasperated tone. "Stop that. You're all overreacting. Christian, Tasha; Rose is going to be_ completely fine_. Rose- let them have their space and deal with the news. Okay?"

I gestured grandly with my plastic fork. "Aye, aye, Captain."

Before he could reply, the door of the mess banged open.

Lissa shrieked, Tasha dropped her spoon in shock and Christian, whose elbow had been resting on the table, slipped and almost fell out of his chair.

Adrian came running in, sliding to a stop in front of the dining table. He clutched a stitch at his side as he bent over, panting hard.

Dimitri was on his feet immediately. "What's wrong?"

Adrian tried to speak and gestured towards the door. But he was huffing so badly that he could barely manage to get out a word.

Christian poured him a glass of water as Dimitri guided him to a chair. As Adrian gulped down the water, I went over to look out of the kitchen door, wondering if something had malfunctioned or caught on fire.

"Anything?" Dimitri asked me as he watched Adrian compose himself.

"Nope," I answered, walking over to stand by his side. "Mia would have told us if something was wrong."

"Nothing's wrong," Adrian wheezed out.

"Relax, Adrian." Lissa crooned, rubbing his shoulder. "Take deep breaths."

Christian aimed a glare at Adrian. "Nothing's wrong? Were you trying to give us a heart attack then?"

Lissa shot a disapproving look at Christian.

I drummed my fingers on the table impatiently as Adrian rested his forehead on the table: "Spit it out, Adrian."

Dimitri shot me a look but I just shrugged.

"Are you sure nothing's wrong?" Tasha asked Adrian with a hint of worry in her voice.

"Everything's fine," Adrian said, lifting his head up to grin at us. "Everything's fantastic. Or, going to be."

Dimitri frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I was at the observation room," Adrian started but Dimitri cut in, his tone exasperated: "Weren't you suppose to finish the hubble observation yesterday?"

"Big picture, please!" Adrian shot him an annoyed look. "As I was saying, I was at the observation room and you know, got bored."

Christian snorted.

"I- well, there's really no point in studying the hospitable zone of Ceres any longer. We're fooling ourselves by thinking we can find viela there."

'_The habitable zone__'_ is the term we use to refer to the belt around a star where temperatures are ideal for life to grow on a planet's surface. When we came through the wormhole, we first traveled to the hospitable zone of Ceres, trying to search for viela in these planets.

We'd lost Alberta in the journey between _Rova_ and _Spetna_ and then landed on _Sietera._ The reason we'd proceeded to check out the hot planet _Rayana _and nearly got killed was because it was the last planet in the hospitable zone of Ceres. Which is exactly why Earth center's inaction was so frustrating…because, we'd more or less exhausted the search for viela in the Ceres star system.

"So, I looked beyond the hospitable zone." Adrian confessed, running a hand through his hair. "We'd dismissed them because we'd thought it might be too cold, right? Well, turns out that's not exactly the case."

"What do you mean?" Tasha asked with bated breath.

This might actually be the breakthrough we were looking for.

"I used the infra-red filter and it clearly shows the presence of both oxygen and hydrogen in the atmosphere of the planet just beyond Rova."

"Wow! Really?" Lissa asked eagerly.

"Let's not get carried away," Dimitri warned as he looked at Tasha and Christian high-fiving each other.

I nodded sadly. "Spectral comparison clearly showed Rayana as a viable destination and look what happened."

Adrian wasn't deterred. In fact, he shot us a smug smile and said, "I knew you'd say that. Which is why I used ATLAST and guess what showed up? Water!"

I sucked in a sharp breath as Lissa squealed.

ATLAST stood for _'__Advanced Technology Large-Aperture Space Telescop__e' _which was used to take images in optical, infrared, and ultraviolet. None of the planets so far had shown signs of water in ATLAST and we'd sort of given up using it.

It was a stroke of luck that Adrian had brought it out again. _This was exactly the break-through we needed!_

Dimitri laughed incredulously. "Presence of water could mean-"

"-presence of viela." I finished, barely able to digest the words.

Lissa jumped and hugged Christian who was looking dazed. Tasha exuberantly kissed Adrian's cheek and Dimitri and I looked at each other in shocked awe.

"We need to see the images," I told Dimitri, exhaling harshly.

Dimitri nodded, hope dancing in his brilliant brown eyes. "Where are they, Adrian?"

"In the observation room-" Adrian had barely finished speaking when Dimitri and I ran out of the room, followed by the others.

We hurried over to the observation room, breathlessly scanning the images that ATLAST had captured.

Adrian was right.

H2O was clearly detected and marked.

Lissa nearly cried when she saw the pictures and the rest of us weren't much better. To be marooned as we'd been, without any news and a properly dictated course of action, we'd been holding out on a hope that the Earth center would soon get back to us with the next step and with reassurances that we weren't too late and that our families and friends were safe back home.

Now that we had a prospective planet to visit, spirits rose as high as hopes did.

I walked over to Adrian and pulled him into a hug, laughing when Lissa threw her arms around both of us. Tasha joined in and Lissa shouted: "Group hug!" and pulled Christian in. Dimitri wrapped his arm around me as I freed my right arm and threw it around Dimitri's waist to pull him into the group hug.

Adrian jumped in place and Tasha and I soon joined, as did Lissa. Christian and Dimitri were apparently too dignified for it, so they retreated as we jumped, still hugging each other.

This could be it.

_This could be it!_

* * *

**AN: How was the chapter? It sure was a lengthy one; with a R&amp;D scene, Rose's confession and much awaited destination plan. Which part did you like? Leave me a _review_ and let me know :)**

**Recently, I've started researching a lot to help plot the final chapters and guess what I found? Mistakes! I've made soo many of them in the previous chapters that it's not even funny :( **

**I've re-written the first chapter but tempted as I may be, I'm not going to re-write the other chapters until the story is done. Which will be soon, sadly. There will be 8-10 chapters more, according to my latest plan. It will not exceed 15, I'm sure :)**

**Because you all are so incredible, I'm giving you a hint for the next chapter: a much needed break from all the sadness. It's games night on the Klasana, brought to you by Adrian Ivashkov :D**

**Excited? ;)**


	20. Defying despondency

**Happy 2017! :D**

**Thank you all for the reviews, follows and favorites! :)  
**

**Small warning before you proceed: This chapter is much more...suggestive than the previous ones. Nothing explicit though. Just something you can expect when Adrian's the mastermind behind the games ;)**

****This chapter is the longest one yet. I hope you'll like it** :)**

* * *

_Enjoy life** today** _

_because _

_**yesterday** is gone _

_and **tomorrow** is never promised._

_~Unknown_

* * *

**Pilot Astronaut Rose Hathaway**

"I'm sorry…" I widened my eyes and pouted, holding my joined palms in front of me in a pleading gesture.

Jade eyes narrowed; a corner of her lips twitching up.

"I didn't mean to push you away," I sniffed, resting my chin on my interlocked fingers. "It was just too much, you know. I didn't want to worry you."

"That's no excuse." came the prim reply.

"I know it's not," I admitted, making a guilty face. "I won't do it again, I promise."

Finally, my dear darling best friend smiled; leaning back on her chair next to the large window in the recreation room. Lissa had poured herself a cup of coffee from the pot resting on the table between us but hadn't taken a sip, intent on making me grovel for her forgiveness.

And I did.

After a hour of begging, blackmailing and shedding false tears, Lissa had finally decided to forgive me. After the theatrics in the conference room when I'd announced my condition, Lissa had taken me aside and primly informed me that she'd not yet forgiven me.

Hence the begging and grovelling on my part.

Taking a sip of the now cold coffee, Lissa grinned at me as I observed her.

"See something you like?" she asked slyly.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "That's my line!"

"Oh, I know." She said lightly, a happy glint in her eyes. "I heard you loud and clear."

"That was your fault." I refused to blush as she giggled. "You know that little deck is my private sanctuary."

Lissa waved it away. "It's part of the ship, so it's open for all of us. It's not a suitable place to be doing naughty things to Dimitri."

I rolled my eyes. "It wasn't like that. Dimitri had only arrived seconds before you did. I was just teasing him."

"Yeah," Lissa set down her cup on the table. "You were_ teasing_ him."

"Were you always so annoying?" I groused. "It must your beloved Christian's influence."

When she gaped at me, I laughed; glad to have the upper hand now.

"You think I didn't catch all the cutesy stuff between you two?" I asked her, delighting in her tinted cheeks. "I may have been preoccupied but I'm not blind."

Lissa huffed, pouring more coffee into her cup. I declined when she offered me some, never having been one to drink that icky stuff.

"Can I have a cup?"

Tasha stood behind me, smiling tentatively at the two of us. Adrian followed her into the recreation room, waving at us before setting up his drawing board to finish a painting he'd started a while ago.

"Of course." Lissa poured coffee into the cup she'd brought for me and slid it over to Tasha who pulled up a chair and joined us at the table.

"Feeling okay, Little Pilot?" Adrian called suddenly, peering at me in genuine concern from across the room.

"Adrian, I appreciate your concern." I shot him a quick smile. "But if you ask me that one more time, I swear I'll throw you out of the ship."

Adrian laughed as Tasha and Lissa exchanged glances. I loved them, I really did and I was touched by their concern but God, their pity was grating on my nerves.

"So, any exciting gossip to share?" Tasha joked, warming her hands on the cup. She was trying her best to act like everything was normal, especially after I'd shouted at her and Christian to stop treating me so delicately.

I appreciated the effort and in the spirit of bringing things to normal, I decided to exploit the opportunity of having her and Adrian together in the room.

"You tell us, Tasha." I grinned impishly at the raven-haired woman. "You're the one with all the exciting news. Crushes, hook-ups, et cetera, et cetera."

Tasha chuckled nervously. "I don't know what you're talking about, Rose."

"Oh, really?" I jerked my head towards Adrian who was acting as though he was deep in thought as he stared at the lovely, half finished painting of _Sietera._ But his too straight posture and half cocked head were clear indications that he was listening to us.

"Rose-" Tasha started to speak when Lissa giggled, smothering it the next second when Tasha and I looked at her in shock.

I had _no clue_ that Lissa knew about Adrian and Tasha.

Looking at our surprised faces, Lissa giggled again; holding her hands up to cover her mouth but her eyes shone with deep amusement. "I'm sorry, was it meant to be a secret?"

I exhaled and leaned back so that my chair was balanced on its hind legs. "For someone who's so innocent, you sure know all the secrets."

Lissa shrugged and Tasha turned to look at Adrian who had given up feigning ignorance.

"Didn't expect this from you, little cousin." Adrian told Lissa glibly before looking at Tasha with a dry look. "I told you, Tash. Nothing stays a secret for long."

Lissa nodded, throwing me a look. "The six of us shouldn't keep secrets from each other."

Adrian smirked mischievously, no doubt catching Lissa's reference to Dimitri and I as a couple. "You're right, Liss. There should be no secrets between us. If there are, it should be revealed immediately.

Tasha frowned up at him, then shot me a sidelong look. "Are you sure all secrets should be revealed, Adrian?"

"Of course," Adrian answered lightly, twirling his paintbrush in the air. "I have a fantastic idea to accomplish that."

"God save us." I muttered and Adrian playfully pushed my chair forward, towards the table.

Barely stopping from landing face-first onto the table, I straightened and punched Adrian's arm rather hard.

"Children, please behave." Lissa told us sternly as Adrian rubbed his arm, muttering under his breath. "Now, Adrian. What's your idea?"

Scowling, Adrian moved away to stand next to Lissa. "You're the only one who appreciates me, cousin."

"That's not true," I interjected, smirking at Tasha. "I'm sure Tasha here appreciates you quite a lot. In bed."

Both Tasha and Lissa flushed while Adrian grinned unabashedly. "You wanna get in on the appreciation, sweetheart?"

"No thanks," I deadpanned. "I'm not into threesomes."

Tasha looked absolutely mortified but Lissa- sweet, innocent Lissa- burst out laughing.

"Too bad," Adrian flirted shamelessly. "With that smokin' body-"

He was cut off by a new voice that was low and deadly. "You better not continue that sentence, Ivashkov."

Adrian gulped and turned around to look at a stone-faced Dimitri.

"Meaning no harm, brother." Adrian said as he inched away to hide behind Lissa. "No harm at all."

Dimitri's face didn't lose its sternness but I could sense his amusement.

Tasha looked between me and Dimitri with a slightly sour look on her face. We hadn't really declared that we were together but we might as well have, especially after the way he'd held me in the conference room yesterday, after my announcement. No one had commented on it except Lissa but I could tell that they, at the very least, suspected that something was going on between us.

"I'm just trying to help," Adrian pleaded his case as Dimitri came over to stand behind me. "The course to our mysterious blue planet has been charted so we don't have much work for the next three months, until we arrive at the new planet."

"That's true," I acknowledged.

"So, my idea is to have fun." Adrian proposed. "We all need a break from the gloom and doom of the past few months-"

Tasha's eyes were fixed on Dimitri's fingers which were lightly rubbing my shoulders. I felt a sudden pity for her when I watched her eyes fill with pain. She wanted someone who could never be hers…

Did she resent me?

I remembered the way she used to flirt with Dimitri, looking for any excuse to be close to him. She'd dropped numerous, unabashed hints that she wanted him. How must it feel to have all that thrown back in your face when you see the object of your desire look at another like that?

Did I just refer to Dimitri as an object of desire?

Well, he was…

Frankly, I could see why she'd want him that badly; now that she knew that I was the reason she couldn't have him, what would she do, if anything?

Did Adrian feel that way too?

No, I decided. He'd long ago insinuated that he knew how I felt about Dimitri. He might have been flirty but he was never as pathetic as Tasha-

Okay, that was very unkind of me.

But I really didn't appreciate someone lusting after Dimitri.

Coming back to myself, I realized that I'd been creepily staring at Tasha who was staring at Dimitri. Lissa's eyes were on Adrian who was still talking.

What was he talking about?

Not wanting to alert the others about my clueless state, I nodded when Adrian finally paused.

"You're right," I told him, out of the blue. "Great idea, Adrian."

Tasha nodded, tacking on a smile but I was sure she'd not listened to Adrian anymore than I did.

Adrian beamed at me and Lissa threw up her hands in exasperation. "Of course you'd agree with him."

I looked around for a clue about what I'd just agreed to. Adrian had said that he'd had an idea and I'd impulsively agreed. What was wrong with me?

Lissa huffed and shook her head as Adrian jumped up and left the room to 'prepare'.

Um, what?

I turned to look at Dimitri who was looking at me with great amusement.

"You have no idea what he said, do you?" he asked, trying not to laugh when I shook my head cluelessly.

Lissa gaped at me. "You didn't even hear his idea but you agreed with him?"

Tasha raised her hand guiltily. "I didn't hear him either."

Lissa sighed and shook her head before standing up. "I'll make sure that he doesn't go overboard."

Dimitri agreed and Lissa left quickly.

"Overboard with what?" Tasha asked just when I demanded, "Tell me what we agreed to!"

Dimitri chuckled when I pinched his hand that was resting my shoulder, impatiently asking him to talk.

"Ladies." Dimitri paused, looking entertained as he glanced between the the two of us. "I believe you agreed to be a part of Adrian's game night."

* * *

_**Three hours later...**_

"Come on, Dimitri!" I tugged on his arm, trying to get him out of the chair.

Dimitri arched an eyebrow, looking amused.

"Will you come or not?" I asked finally, annoyed at his inability to move.

"No, I will not." He replied, going back to reading one of those damned westerns of his.

"'No' is not an option." I informed him, frowning when a tiny smile crossed his face. "Come on! Get your ass out of that chair!"

"So charming," Dimitri muttered under his breath.

I kicked the leg of his chair in frustration. "Get up!"

"Rose, you're wasting your breath." Dimitri said; oh, so kindly with his eyes still glued to the book.

"Fine." I crossed my arms and walked a few paces backward. "Don't come. Sit here and enjoy your stupid book. I'm going to enjoy every second of your absence."

"I'm sure you will," he said absentmindedly, turning a page.

"It's game night!" I exclaimed, throwing up my hands. "We get one night to enjoy in the middle of all this gloom and doom but no, Dimitri Belikov prefers to sit in a corner and read-"

"-it's much more enjoyable," he retorted.

I stared at him for moment before shrugging. "Fine. Have it your way. Don't play the games with us."

I turned around walked over to the door of his room, muttering just loud enough for Dimitri to hear: "I'm sure Adrian's planned many super-fun games, maybe even _spin the bottle._ God knows the man's always waiting to get close to me. Maybe he's not so bad, after all. Maybe I'll enjoy kissing _him_."

"Oh, you will, will you?" Dimitri muttered from behind me.

I turned to shoot him a wink. "It'll be a nice change."

Laughing, I quickly left the room.

A fleeting glance backward told me that Dimitri was not pleased…at all. Knowing that there was no way Dimitri was going to stay away now, I silently congratulated myself on a job well done.

"Hey guys!" I greeted as I entered the audio-visual room of the ship, Dimitri right on my heels.

"Finally!" Adrian exclaimed, flinching when I hit the back of his head as I moved to sit beside him on the floor.

Christian shot Dimitri an indecipherable look. "How did you get conned into this?"

Dimitri sat down beside me, folding his long limbs in one graceful motion. "The same way you did, I imagine."

Lissa giggled when Christian shot her a mock glare.

"Alright, settle down people." Adrian called, raising his hands. "Any questions before we officially begin?"

Tasha raised her hand. "What exactly are we playing?"

Adrian smirked. "We're going to play three games, selected by Rose, Lissa and yours truly."

I snickered. "Oh, you'll all _love_ the game Adrian has chosen."

Adrian inclined his head, ignoring the sarcasm. "My game will be kept a secret-"

"-why?" Christian interrupted. "I can only imagine how horrifying your brain child will be. We should probably skip your idea."

"Don't worry, Chris." Lissa soothed as Adrian glared at him. "I've done my best to…um, neutralize it."

"That's one way of putting it," I muttered, imagining Dimitri's reaction to the game.

"So, are Rose and Lissa's games a secret too?" Tasha asked.

"Well, mine is-" Lissa was cut off by Adrian.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" He announced grandly, looking around with a smug smile. "Welcome to the first edition of the Klasana game night-"

"-hopefully the last edition as well." Dimitri said under his breath.

I elbowed him and Christian snickered.

"Let the games…begin!" Adrian declared with a flourish.

"Coming back to the point," I said firmly, making sure that everyone was paying attention. "Why don't we begin with a simple game of 'would you rather'?"

"Boring." Christian mocked in a sing-song tone.

I smirked at him. "Tell that to Lissa. It was her idea."

Christian quickly turned to look at Lissa who was already glaring at him.

"The idea might have been hers but the questions are mine." Adrian said, grinning wickedly.

"The punishment for not choosing either option is forfeit, isn't it?" Dimitri asked hopefully.

I scoffed. "Not a chance, Comrade."

"Yeah, Belikov." Adrian smirked at Dimitri. "There's no forfeit. If you'd rather not answer, then you'll be forced to..."

"Yes?" Dimitri asked warily.

"-do an entire month of cleaning chores." I finished, resisting the clap my hands wickedly. "You can't do any of your usual duties. Moreover, no solid food for a month."

Dimitri cursed under his breath as we all laughed, save Christian who looked like he'd swallowed a lemon.

"Let's begin!" Tasha said, a little too brightly.

Lissa stood up and collected the bowl containing the pieces of papers that had questions written on them.

"I hope the questions are not too gross," she said as she deposited the bowl in the middle of our circle.

"I wouldn't do that," Adrian shook his head innocently.

"Adrian..." I warned.

He smirked and added with a wink towards me, "they're just slightly flirty."

I rolled my eyes.

"Hey! Instead of each person picking their own question, we can have the person next to them pick and ask it." Tasha suggested.

"Yes because that's not too embarrassing," Christian said sarcastically.

"She's right," I told him. "It's more fun that way."

"You pick first then." Christian retorted.

I shrugged. "Okay. The piece of paper I pick will have the question that Dimitri has to answer."

Dimitri rubbed his forehead, looking apprehensive when I picked up one of the piece of papers and looked at it.

Immediately, I burst out laughing.

"What is it?" Adrian asked eagerly.

"It's the perfect question for Dimitri," I told him, holding the paper close to my chest to stop him from peeking. "This is hilarious!"

Dimitri shot me a look.

"Okay." I grinned at Dimitri, relishing the question. "The question is: would you rather have your thoughts broadcasted so that everyone will always know what you're thinking while you're thinking it or never be allowed to wear clothes but keep your thoughts to yourself?

"What kind of question is that?" Dimitri asked indignantly as everyone laughed, finding humor in the fact that Dimitri was an insanely private person who hated the thought of others hearing his thoughts.

"You need to answer it," Christian told him.

Dimitri rolled his eyes. "I'll rather have my thoughts broadcasted than forsake my clothes."

"Are you sure?" Adrian asked. When Dimitri nodded, Adrian smirked and said, "Why don't we turn that into a real life situation? Tell us what you're thinking right now."

Dimitri looked at him seriously. "I'm thinking about how wonderful it'll feel when I finally punch you."

Adrian reeled back as we all collapsed in laughter.

"Next question," Adrian said hastily, gesturing for Dimitri to pick up a piece of paper. He did, reading it with a straight face before turning to Christian. "Would you rather give a lap dance or receive it?"

Christian scratched his head, apparently giving it a serious thought while Lissa blushed. Adrian and I, however, were busy laughing mostly because of the stoic way in which Dimitri had read such a question.

"I'd rather receive one, thank you." Christian answered, avoiding Lissa's eye.

Adrian hooted and I turned to Christian. "Why are you thanking Dimitri? He's not going to be the one who'll give you a lap dance."

Dimitri shot me an exasperated look. Christian rolled his eyes when my comment prompted more laughter.

"My turn," Christian said, picking a piece of paper. He turned slightly green as he read it. Clearing his throat, he read it out loud: "Would you rather commit to a serious relationship that has no promises for the future, or have a friends-with-benefits arrangement with someone who wants to marry you after they sow their wild oats?"

He glared at Adrian when he finished and said: "You don't have to answer it, Lissa. It's too inappropriate."

"That's the point, Ozera." Adrian retorted dryly.

"Come on, Chris." Tasha said, "Lissa has no problem answering it, right Lissa? It's just a hypothetical question, after all."

Lissa agreed, looking away from Christian as she thought over her answer.

Dimitri leaned closer to me and whispered, "this game is crazy."

I rubbed his back soothingly. "It's fun."

He scoffed. "Answering such inappropriate questions is fun?"

I chuckled, nudging his shoulder with mine. "Yes, it is. Now, shush."

"I think I'd rather have a serious relationship," Lissa declared.

Christian's eyes widened. "Really? Even if there's no future to it?"

Lissa looked at him gravely. "We don't have a promise of a future, do we Chris? None of us here do. So, I'd rather have a serious relationship instead of fooling around with a promise of marriage."

I sighed as the atmosphere in the room grew sober.

Really, what did we expect this game night to be? All fun without any mention of our perilous situation?

It was bound to come up sooner or later.

Dimitri's hand on my own stopped me from dwelling on our problems. Or rather, _my _problem. Going by Lissa's logic, I should be living it up when I could. Who knew when Cotopa would claim me for its own?

I should be enjoying my life.

But how could I, stuck here as I was, millions of light years away from home? A home which was growing worse and worse…

No, thinking about it would be like digging myself into a hole. I'd already fallen in once and I was determined to never do that again.

"Wow," Adrian whistled softly, breaking my thoughts. "I had no idea that the question would cause so much tension. Break it up, people! Lissa, pick a piece of paper."

His words did the trick.

Lissa perked up as she picked one, smiling on reading the question. "Be naked in Antarctica or wear a snow suit in the desert?"

"Wow, that's tough." Tasha laughed. "Hm…I think I'll go with naked in Antarctica. I'd rather freeze to death than die in a heatstroke."

"Really?" Christian asked in surprise."At least you'll have your clothes on in the desert and you'll die with some dignity."

Adrian snorted. "Clothes are overrated."

We all stared at him.

"What?" he asked defensively. "They are!"

"Tasha, pick up a damn chit before he start to explain his point," I commanded, leveling a glare at Adrian.

"Right you are, Rose." Tasha picked up a piece of paper and read, smiling evilly as she looked at Adrian. "It's the perfect question for you, Adrian. Would you rather lose your sex organs forever or gain 200 pounds for the rest of your life?"

"Gain the weight, of course." Adrian replied nonchalantly.

"Of course!" Lissa and I echoed together.

"My turn!" Adrian eagerly picked up a piece of paper to ask me a question. "Okay, Little Pilot. Would you rather-" he looked up to shoot me a smug smirk. "-have a threesome with your best friend and your partner, or watch your partner have sex with a stranger, who you will never see again?

"Eww!" I clapped my hands over my ears, Tasha and Lissa chorusing their disgust along with me. Even Christian looked disgusted. "What sort of sick bastard are you?"

"Hey!" Adrian said defensively. "I made this game_ fun. _Now, answer the question."

"No freaking way!" I shuffled away from Adrian, bumping into Dimitri as I did. "I'm not answering that."

"Rules are rules, Rose." Adrian sang.

"It's just a hypothetical question, Rose." Tasha, hiding a smile. "Just answer and be done with it."

Was she trying to make me uncomfortable?

"Hypothetical, my foot!" I mumbled, looking between Dimitri and Lissa. Oh, God! Gross. A threesome with Dimitri and Lissa? Or, watch Dimitri have sex with someone else? A someone that my mind pictured as Tasha..

Oh, God.

No way was I answering this.

"I didn't take you for a coward, Rose." Adrian goaded. "Come on! Choose one."

Lissa looked sympathetic…but Dimitri did not. His expression was blank but his eyes clearly said, _'I told you so'._

Why hadn't I listened to him? Noo, I wanted a game night.

"Not so fun anymore, hm? Dimitri whispered in my ear.

"Fuck you, Belikov." I muttered menacingly.

He chuckled softly; no doubt because his imagination wasn't running as wild as mine. If it had, he'd have pictured exactly what I was picturing and would have been grossed out as I was.

"Time's ticking, Hathaway." Christian said mockingly.

They all seemed to have overcome their initial disgust and were enjoying at my expense.

An idea struck me abruptly.

Smirking at my own genius, I turned to Adrian. "I'll take the first option."

Silence.

Everyone looked at me in shock.

"A threesome, Rose?" Christian asked in disbelief.

"You're lying," Adrian stated. "There's no way you'd choose that option if this was real."

I shrugged carelessly. "I so would."

Lissa and Dimitri exchanged glances.

Lissa seemed puzzled, maybe even a little nauseous when suddenly, pieces fell into place for her.

"Only you, Rose." She said out lout, smiling fondly.

I preened. "Of course. Don't underestimate the amazing Rose Hathaway."

Everyone looked between us in confusion.

"What is it, Lissa?" Christian demanded. "Tell us!"

I met Dimitri's eyes, seeing the confusion in them as he tried to figure out what I meant. As I watched, comprehension dawned on his face with his lips pulling up in a reluctant smile.

I beamed at him as he shot me a glance filled with both exasperation and affection.

"Rose logic indeed." He said under his breath.

"What's going on?" Adrian demanded loudly.

"Nothing!" I said, just as loudly. "I picked an option. Let's continue the game."

The others started debating about whether to consider my answer valid or not.

But I had other problems.

When I'd scooted away from Adrian, I'd ended up incredibly close to Dimitri. I didn't want to move away, not really but I knew the others would soon say something about it.

Dimitri made the decision for me when he lightly rested his hand on the small of my back, leaning down to whisper, "that was some quick thinking there."

"I know." I smiled at Lissa when she caught my eye. "Did you really expect me to choose either of the options?"

"I should've known you'd come up with something like that."

By 'like that', he meant the rationalization behind choosing the option of having a threesome with my best friend and partner. At first glance, it might appear as if I'd chosen to hypothetically sleep with Lissa and Dimitri together but that was not so. The way I saw it, Dimitri was my best friend before anyone else. He was also my 'partner', so to speak. Technically, I'd not chosen a threesome at all. Get it? He was both the best friend and the partner and so where was the question of a threesome?

"What choice did I have?" I asked Dimitri. "I couldn't exactly choose between sleeping with you and Lissa-" I shuddered. "-or between watching you have sex with Tasha."

I felt bile rise up my throat while voicing it out loud.

Dimitri's brow furrowed at my words. "Tasha?"

"My substitute for stranger," I explained, looking away to focus on the said woman who was shooting us glances. "I don't think she's all that happy with our proximity."

"She'll deal with it." Dimitri said off-handedly.

"Settle down, people." Adrian called, raising his arms. "Rose, we've decided to consider your answer."

"How gracious of you," I muttered.

"Let's continue the game." Lissa said enthusiastically, pushing the bowl towards me.

"What's gotten into you?" I asked her curiously, taken aback by her enthusiasm.

She smiled. "I'm having fun, that's all."

Adrian high-fived her as I picked up a piece of paper and read it before turning to Adrian.

"Why don't we disregard the order? Ask a question to anyone you like, as long as all six of us get a question in this round."

When my suggestion was accepted, I looked at Christian with a smirk. "So, Christian. Adrian asks-" Adrian coughed but I ignored him. "-would you rather a girl wear lingerie or just be completely nude?"

Adrian started laughing, rolling on the floor at the sight of the blush rising up Christian's face.

"Rose!" Lissa chastised.

"It's not my question," I defended myself. "Adrian framed it. I just chose Christian as a target for this question."

Tasha laughed, leaning towards Christian. "What's your answer?"

"Yeah, Chris." Adrian said, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. "I'm sure Lissa would like to know."

Lissa reached over to pinch Adrian's arm.

"You go, girl!" I cheered at the sight of Lissa's kitten claws coming out.

"That's mean," Dimitri told me when Christian spluttered, looking anywhere but at Lissa.

I narrowed my eyes at Dimitri. "Be glad I didn't ask you that."

Dimitri smirked and looked away. "It's an easy question for me."

I gaped at him but before I could say anything, Christian mumbled, "I choose...well, um…I choose-completely nude."

"Good choice," Adrian approved.

Rolling my eyes, I pushed the bowl towards Dimitri.

He sighed in irritation before picking up a piece of paper. His eyes widened as he read it before those delicious lips turned up in a half smile.

His eyes found his target.

Adrian.

"Would you rather-" Dimitri paused, looking up from the paper to shoot Adrian a amused look. "-dress up as a sexy librarian or exotic dancer?"

Adrian gaped at Dimitri in shock. "Those options are for women!"

We all laughed when Dimitri shrugged calmly. "You wrote these down. You have to answer it."

"Imagine Adrian as a belly dancer," I suggested, much to the mirth of the crew. "In those sequined dresses and feathers-"

"As much as I hate to ruin your fantasy," Adrian said with a smirk. "I'll go with sexy librarian."

"Minus the sexy part, you mean." Christian remarked.

"I'd rather not be considered sexy by you," Adrian shot back.

"Break it up, boys.' Lissa held up her hands for peace before gesturing to Christian. "Your turn, Chris."

Christian opened the piece of paper and looked around for his next victim. For some reason, his eyes zeroed in on his aunt. "Tasha, would you rather have sex with your cousin in secret or not have sex with your cousin but everyone would think you did?"

"Good one," I told Adrian in genuine appreciation. This one was tough. And gross. But then again, all of Adrian's questions were gross.

"Why am I your unlucky victim?" Tasha questioned Christian.

He smirked. "Because this so called cousin of yours would be a relative of mine too. I can imagine the family gatherings full of-"

He trailed off, eyes clouding in sadness at the thought of his family.

We all sobered up, thinking of our loved ones back on earth. I leaned slightly so that my shoulder touched Dimitri's, seeking comfort in his presence.

"I think I'll choose the second option," Tasha said, faking a smile to lighten the atmosphere. "Let everybody think what they want. I'll know the truth, won't I?"

Lissa nodded, reaching to pick up a piece of paper.

Unfortunately, her victim was me.

"Rose," she said sweetly. Adrian and Christian leaned closer in anticipation, perhaps sensing it was something scandalous. "Would you rather…"

She trailed off meaningfully.

"Just spit it out," I said impatiently.

"Would you rather do it in the backseat of a car or on a secluded bench in a park?" she asked in a rush.

I looked at her in shock as Adrian and Christian guffawed, no doubt entertained by the look on my face.

I didn't even want to look at Dimitri at the moment.

Face flaming, I reached over to punch Christian's arm.

"What was that for?" he whined, rubbing his arm.

"For corrupting my best friend," I said with a glare. "Before you, she'd never have chosen me as her target. Definitely not for such a question."

Lissa and Adrian laughed while Tasha looked entertained,

"Well then," Christian winked at Lissa. "I'm glad I corrupted you, babe."

"Yeah, yeah, enough with the mush." Adrian said before looking at me. "Answer the question, sweetheart."

Rolling my eyes, I thought over my answer while trying my best to ignore Dimitri's warmth against my back. I did not need more embarrassment. It was bad enough that I couldn't stop picturing Dimitri and I in a car, or a park bench, naked and-

I _really_ needed to rein in my imagination.

I tried to look unaffected as I said, "maybe a car. More comfortable, you know."

Lies.

I didn't know why but there was something about a secluded park bench-

"A car may be more comfortable but there's less space," Adrian said intelligently.

I stared at him. "I'm not having this conversation with you."

Christian laughed. "I agree with Rose, though. A car's better."

"Any day." Tasha said, nodding her head.

"Why are we discussing this?" I asked, scandalized that they'd picked up the discussion. Honestly, I wouldn't have minded it if not for my imagination which was currently picturing a car and us and-

No! Shit, get a grip!

Dimitri's presence, his scent, his warmth was suddenly prickling my skin. I wondered vaguely if he'd guessed the direction of my thoughts. Is that why he was quiet?

What would he say if he knew some of my fantasies?

Tasha picked Lissa as her target, since it was only her and Dimitri at this point and she wanted to spare her poor dear Dimka the awkwardness, I suppose.

Whatever.

"Would you rather have sex with a person that your partner hates? Or, would you rather your partner have sex with someone you hate?"

Lissa didn't even take time to answer. "I choose the second option."

Yeah, that was Lissa. She wouldn't want to increase her lover's suffering, even hypothetically.

I wonder what I'd chose…

Adrian smirked as he picked up a piece of paper, looking like he was enjoying having a certain degree of power over Dimitri.

Instinctively, I leaned closer to Dimitri to whisper, "Brace yourself, Comrade."

It was in the very next second, when I took in Dimitri's wonderful aftershave, that I remembered why I'd been avoiding looking at him or even acknowledging his presence.

Damn hormones.

Damn my stupid wild imagination.

Oh God, what would Adrian ask?

"Would you rather-" Adrian said with a relish. "-do it in a car or secluded park bench?"

"Wasn't that my question?" I asked him.

Adrian shrugged in reply. "I don't know how the paper ended up back in the bowl but I don't care. This is the question Belikov has to answer. Rather fitting, isn't it?"

I glared at him.

Things were bad enough without his insinuations.

"How's it fitting?" Christian asked, puzzled.

Tasha changed the subject for some reason. "Just answer the question, Dimka."

I swallowed, still not looking at Dimitri.

On one hand, I wanted to hear Dimitri's answer so that I could tease him later but on the other, I did not need more fuel to fire my fantasies.

Since everyone was looking at Dimitri curiously, I figured I should do the same to not give rise to suspicions, even though almost everyone knew about us.

Sort of.

Dimitri's eyes were on Adrian but, as though sensing my gaze, he turned his head to lock eyes with me.

Something passed between us at the moment, something warm and powerful and magnetic…

"I'll go with Rose's choice," he said softly.

I looked away quickly as my breath hitched.

There was something in the way he'd worded that sentence, something that lurked in those beautiful eyes that told me that he was not exactly telling the truth.

Perhaps he agreed with my choice…not the one I'd said out loud but the one I'd mentally chosen.

What did that mean?

All I knew was that I was finding it hard to breath. It felt like a fire was burning in my veins and there was nothing I could do to put it out.

"Well." I exhaled shakily, dumping all slips of paper into the bowl. "That's that. Let's move on to the next game, shall we?"

* * *

**AN: Okay, I know it's bad but it's still the longest chapter so hopefully, you'll all be able to forgive me _/\\_**

**So, what did you think about this chapter? Liked it? Hated it? Let me know in a review :)**


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